Around 60 million people are under weather alerts from the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic as a winter storm threatens to slam the region with heavy snow and crippling ice.
The developing low pressure system is forecast to affect the regions for the next three days, and includes cities such as Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis and Indianapolis.
The Rocky Mountains and the Central and Northern Plains will be hit by heavy snow, strong winds and freezing rain. Cities expected to be affected include Wichita, Kansas City and Omaha. Blizzard-like conditions are possible due to the combination of heavy snow and strong wind gusts.
“A wintry mix could start as early as this afternoon and transition to snow Sunday afternoon,” the National Weather Service field office in Kansas City said on X. “Wind gusts around 35-40 mph on Sunday could yield possible blizzard conditions.”
By Sunday morning, the system will shift over the Central Plains, bringing heavy snow and ice from Kansas through the mid-Mississippi Valley. The storm system will gradually shift east through the day, with the biggest impacts targeting Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
Sunday will also bring a severe weather risk across the Lower Mississippi Valley, putting seven million people at risk for tornadoes, damaging wind and hail including Jackson, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Lake Charles.
Snow will arrive in the Mid-Atlantic and central Appalachians overnight into Monday morning. These showers will linger through Monday, ending by Tuesday morning as the system moves offshore. Areas affected on Monday include Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Kansas, Missouri and Illinois are forecast to receive the highest snowfall totals of anywhere from 9 to 16 inches. A general 4 to 9 inches of snowfall will stretch from parts of Illinois to the Mid-Atlantic, with higher accumulations possible in parts of the central Appalachians.
Significant icing will stretch from Kansas through Virginia where power outages, tree damage and impossible travel conditions can be expected. Generally, totals will range from 0.1 to 0.4 an inch of ice with extreme amounts of 0.5 to 0.75 inch possible in parts of Missouri, southern Illinois and Kentucky.
In the wake of this system, a significant drop in temperatures is anticipated for the eastern two-thirds of the country. Highs will drop 10 to 25 degrees below average starting Sunday and last through Friday. Highs will range from the single digits and teens across the Plains and Midwest, with 20s to 30s expected for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The most extreme temperatures will be in the Northern Plains, where overnight lows will dip as low as -20 degrees, with wind chill values around -40 degrees. Cold weather advisories are in place from eastern Montana through Minnesota.
