A winter weather cocktail hits the central United States before moving east

A winter weather cocktail is currently affecting central and eastern North America. In the United States, millions of people in the eastern half of the country are threatened by blizzards, and some localities will record the heaviest snowfall in a decade, meteorologists predict.

Already on Saturday, road conditions had deteriorated in the central United States, with snow, ice and plummeting temperatures expected.

At least 60 million people are in the path of the storm, which is expected to sweep the eastern half of the United States with arctic air through Monday and greatly disrupt travel.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of the risk of ice, snow and strong winds from western Kansas to the coastal states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, over a wide swath of territory of 2400 kilometers.

Winter is backsaid Bob Oravec, chief forecaster at the NWS at College Parkin Maryland.

The NWS specifies in its latest bulletin to expect destructive frost and freezing rain.

Problems in Kansas and elsewhere

The agency warned that areas from northeastern Kansas to north-central Missouri would experience the heaviest snowfall in ten years.

Severe thunderstorms are expected in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Freezing rain and sleet are forecast from Kansas to Kentucky and Virginia, as is the risk of downed trees and power lines.

The company American Airlines issued an alert to its customers targeting 45 airports across the country affected by the storm.

Kansas City International Airport temporarily suspended flight operations Saturday afternoon due to ice. Dozens of flights were delayed, including the one carrying Chiefs of Kansas Citybefore the slopes reopen.

Freezing rain in Wichita, Kansas, required authorities to attend several crashes this morning. Police urged drivers to stay home, if possible, and watch out for emergency vehicles.

A fire truck, several tractor-trailers and vehicles were overturned west of Salina, Kansas. Other trucks jackknifed or landed in ditches, State Highway Patrol Officer Ben Gardner said.

The governors of Missouri and Arkansas declared states of emergency. Whiteout conditions threatened to make driving dangerous or impossible, forecasters said, and increase the risk of motorists becoming stranded.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency Friday evening ahead of the storm and indicated the situation could impact people’s ability to vote in the state’s special election Tuesday. In a statement on X, he encouraged residents to vote early Saturday, before bad weather arrives.

The northeastern United States also targeted

Some locations in the eastern states of New York and Pennsylvania will experience heavy snow from the Great Lakes, which could total 24 inches, according to the NWS.

A blizzard is expected across the Central Plains early Sunday, making travel extremely dangerous on impassable roads and posing a high risk for motorists to become strandedalso predicts the NWS.

The United States capital, Washington, could be covered in a snowpack of 12 cm or more, with up to 25 cm in surrounding areas.

Temperatures are expected to plunge, in some places, below 18 degrees Celsius, with strong gusts of wind making the situation worse.

In Chicago on Saturday, temperatures fluctuated between minus 7 and minus 10 degrees Celsius, around minus 18 degrees in Minneapolis and minus 25 degrees in International Fallsin Minnesota, on the Canadian border.

In Baltimore, a severe weather alert was issued, asking agencies to provide shelter and assistance to those in need.

With information from Associated Press and Agence France-Presse