Large winter storm to clobber U.S. from Plains to East Coast

By Wealthy McKay

(Reuters) – Tens of millions of Individuals from the Plains to the East Coast confronted the specter of blizzards, heavy snow, treacherous ice and freezing rain by way of Monday, the Nationwide Climate Service stated on Saturday.

Governors in Kentucky and Virginia declared states of emergency forward of the winter storm.

“The storm remains to be taking form,” meteorologist Wealthy Bann of the NWS’s Climate Prediction Middle stated Saturday night. “However this factor has a number of hazards from heavy snows within the Plains to vital icing protecting roads farther south.”

He added that greater than 60 million individuals within the U.S. had been affected by winter climate warnings, watches or advisories this weekend.

A swath extending eastward from Nebraska and Kansas by way of Ohio, Indiana, southwestern Pennsylvania and northwestern Virginia may see from 1 inch (2.54 cm) to 1 foot (30 cm) of snow. Ice may knock out energy strains and trigger widespread outages.

A wintry mess of freezing rain and ice will hit southern Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee on Sunday, Bann stated, probably making roads hazardous and downing energy strains.

“It will be almost unimaginable to drive in some areas,” he stated.

The Kansas Metropolis Worldwide Airport in Missouri closed briefly on Saturday afternoon as a consequence of fast ice accumulation, officers stated on social media.

Bann stated that the storm ought to transfer previous the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean by late on Monday, however a brand new blast of Arctic air will convey frigid chilly to the jap two-thirds of the U.S. by the center of subsequent week.