A major winter storm Heavy snow, significant ice and cold temperatures are expected to begin Saturday across the Central United States and move eastward over the next several days, according to the National Weather Service.
Here's what you need to know about the storm that is expected to affect millions of people across the eastern two-thirds of the country:
Major winter storm is coming
A large system hit the West Coast Friday afternoon, bringing rain to the Pacific Northwest and snow is expected in the Cascade Mountains, according to meteorologists.
This system will be responsible for the development of a major winter storm from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic this weekend through early next week.
Snow will fall across the central plains and move eastward
By Saturday evening, widespread heavy snowfall is expected in areas between central Kansas and Indiana, especially along and north of Interstate 70, with a high chance of at least 8 inches (20.3 centimeters).
Meteorologists said that in places in the region that usually receive the most snowfall, this could be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade.
The storm will then move toward the Ohio Valley, where severe travel disruptions are expected. It will reach the Mid-Atlantic states from Sunday to Monday.
Blizzard conditions possible
Wind gusts in excess of 35 mph (56 kph) and heavy rates of snowfall could lead to blizzard conditions by Sunday morning, especially across Kansas and adjacent parts of the central Plains.
Whiteout conditions can make driving from dangerous to impossible and increase the risk of becoming stranded.
Freezing rain expected from eastern Kansas to the Ozarks
Dangerous sleet and freezing rain, especially damaging to power lines, are also expected starting Saturday from eastern Kansas into Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and much of Kentucky and West Virginia.
Hazardous travel conditions are expected with the potential for power outages in areas that receive more than a quarter inch (half a centimeter) of snow accumulation.
“This is going to be a mess, a potential disaster,” said private meteorologist Ryan Mau.
Cold air coming from the Arctic could cause blasts in areas as far south as Florida
Forecasters said that starting Monday, millions of people in the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous, bone-chilling wind and cold.
Temperatures may be 12 to 25 °F (7 to 14 °C) colder than normal as the polar vortex extends down from the high Arctic.
“This could be the coldest January for the U.S. since 2011,” Dan DePodwin, director of forecasting operations for AccuWeather, said Friday. He said “temperatures could remain well below historical averages” for a week or more.
Danny Barandieron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, said the largest below-normal declines are likely to be concentrated over the Ohio Valley, but significant and unusual cold will extend south to the Gulf Coast.
He said that there is also a possibility of severe cold in Florida.
“The wind chill is going to be brutal,” said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Institute. “Just because the world is getting warmer doesn't mean this cold one is going away.”
Weather may worsen due to rapidly warming Arctic
Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research, said the brutal weather could be triggered by a rapidly warming Arctic, a reminder that climate change leads to more extreme weather.
The polar vortex – super-cold air rotating like a top – usually stays over the North Pole, but sometimes extends to the Americas, Europe or Asia, increasing the intensity of the cold.
Cohen and colleagues have published several studies that have observed an increase in the drag or wandering of the polar vortex. Cohen et al. published a study last month The cold outbreak is being partly blamed on changes in the Arctic, which is warming four times faster than the rest of the world.