ARLINGTON, VA. − More than 60 million Americans were under winter weather and storm advisories Sunday as a swath of the Midwest and East, already gripped by bitter cold temperatures, braced for a historic storm after more than 2 feet of snow already fell in some areas since Friday.
As of Sunday morning, over 17 inches of snow had slammed Erie, Pennsylvania. Rome, New York was blasted by almost 2 feet of snow, AccuWeather reported. Parts of Upstate New York have checked in with more than 30 inches of snow in the last few days.
Governors in Kentucky and Virginia declared states of emergency ahead of the weather system. The National Weather Service warned that some areas could see their biggest storm in more than a decade. Many school systems planning to reopen Monday after a two-week winter holiday break were faced with delaying restarts for a day or more.
“The storm is still taking shape,” meteorologist Rich Bann of the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center said. “But this thing has multiple hazards from heavy snows in the Plains to significant icing covering roads farther south.”
In Arlington and the Washington, D.C., region, where some winters come and go with barely a hint of snow, the storm was forecast to hit Sunday night. The Weather Service warned of total snow and sleet accumulations from 5 to 9 inches. Amounts of 10 to 12 inches were possible in isolated spots if heavy banding sets up in this area, forecasters said.
And a second round of heavy snow was possible late Monday before the precipitation ends, the local winter weather message said.
‘Heaviest snowfall in over a decade’:Mega winter storm bears down on millions
Storm stretching from Midwest to East Coast
A wide area of the nation from Nebraska and Kansas through Ohio, Indiana, southwestern Pennsylvania and northwestern Virginia could see from 1 inch to a foot of snow, the Weather Service said. Ice could knock out power lines and cause widespread outages, authorities warned.
Freezing rain and ice will hit southern Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee on Sunday, Bann said, likely making roads hazardous and downing power lines.
“It’ll be nearly impossible to drive in some areas,” he said.
Contributing: Reuters
