A blizzard of “historic proportions” that hit the U.S. Rocky Mountain and Plains states this week was moving eastward on Thursday as it weakened, hurling hurricane-force winds, tornadoes and heavy rain on its way, weather officials said. “While the storm has reached its lowest pressure and will gradually weaken over the next few days, strong winds will continue on the west side of the storm across portions of the Central and Northern Plains,” Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS), said on Thursday in a weather advisory. A day earlier, the NWS had described the blizzard – previously dubbed a “bomb cyclone” by U.S. meteorologists for its quick, late season punch – as being of “historic proportions” in a post on Twitter.
