At least 62 million people are in the path of the storm as states of emergency have been declared in several US states.
A severe winter storm has hit the United States, with meteorologists warning that more than 60 million people in the east of the country will face blizzards and that some areas will see the heaviest snowfall in a decade.
The National Weather Service (NWS) on Sunday issued warnings for ice, snow and gale force winds for states from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic.
A state of emergency has been declared in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia.
More than 60 million people are in the path of a dangerous storm that will plunge the eastern half of the US into a deep freeze of arctic air by Monday, resulting in severe travel disruptions.
Winter storm warnings have been issued from western Kansas to the coastal states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, an unusually wide 2,400-km (1,500-mile) swath under immediate threat.
“A decisive winter storm to affect the central plains to the mid-Atlantic through Monday with widespread heavy snow and damaging ice accumulations,” the NWS said in its latest report.
The agency warned that areas from northeast Kansas to north-central Missouri would experience the “heaviest snowfall in a decade.”
Scientists say extreme weather conditions are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of human-caused climate change.
Flights canceled
The first major storm of 2025 has already wreaked havoc on travel, with Kansas City International Airport announcing the closure of its flights on Saturday “due to rapid ice accumulation.”
The planes resumed later after the runways and taxiways were treated, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a social media post.
Temperatures are expected to drop below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 Celsius) in some places, while the US capital Washington could be covered in five inches or more of snow.
Another big concern is the freezing rain and sleet expected from Kansas eastward into Kentucky and Virginia, setting the stage for thick ice to cover roads, making travel dangerous, downing trees and power lines and potentially leaving millions of consumers without power during the cold snap.
Conditions could prove especially dangerous in the Appalachians, where a deadly hurricane in late September devastated communities and devastated several southeastern states, including Kentucky.
Many of these communities are still recovering from the effects of that hurricane.
The new storm “will likely cause significant disruption and hazardous conditions on our roadways and could cause significant power outages just 24 hours before it gets very cold in Kentucky,” Gov. Andy Beshear said at an emergency meeting.
