A blast of snow, ice, wind and plunging temperatures has stirred up dangerous travel conditions in parts of the central US as a disruptive winter storm brought the possibility of the “heaviest snowfall in a decade”.
Snow and ice blanketed major roads in nearly all of Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the state National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists.
At least 8in of snow was expected, particularly north of Interstate 70, as the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for Kansas and Missouri, where blizzard conditions brought wind gusts of up to 45mph. The warning extended to New Jersey for Monday and into early Tuesday.
Snow is cleared from a street in Lowville, New York (Cara Anna/AP)
“For locations in this region that receive the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” the weather service said early on Sunday.
About 63 million people in the US were under some kind of winter weather advisory, watch or warning on Sunday, according to Bob Oravec of the National Weather Service.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole. People in the US, Europe and Asia experience its intense cold when the vortex escapes and stretches south.
Studies show a fast-warming Arctic is partly to blame for the increasing frequency of the polar vortex extending its icy grip.
In Indiana, snow fully covered portions of Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and US Route 41, prompting Indiana State Police to ask motorists to stay off the roads as ploughs worked to keep up.
“It’s snowing so hard, the snow ploughs go through and then within a half hour the roadways are completely covered again,” Sergeant Todd Ringle said.
Part of I-70 was closed in central Kansas by Saturday afternoon. Roughly 10in of snow had fallen in parts of the state, with snow and sleet totals predicted to top 14in for parts of Kansas and northern Missouri.
Parts of the north east were in the grip of strong winter weather (Cara Anna/AP)
Parts of upstate New York saw 3ft or more of snow from a lake effect event.
The storm was then forecast to move into the Ohio Valley and reach the mid-Atlantic states on Sunday and Monday, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida.
The National Weather Service warned that road travel could be “very difficult to impossible”.
By Sunday, dozens of car accidents had been reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his police car was hit on Interstate 65.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, who declared a state emergency ahead of the storm, said state buildings would be closed on Monday.
“We see far too many wrecks out there for people that do not have to be on the roads, so I want to ask: stay inside. Stay safe with your family. Let the road crews do their work,” the governor said in a video posted to social media.
“We want to make sure that nobody gets hurt and everybody gets through this safely, so please look out for each other.”
A plough clears a car park in Cincinnati (Joshua A Bickel/AP)
Governors in Missouri and Arkansas also declared states of emergency.
The storms also caused havoc for the nation’s railways. More than 20 cancelations were planned on Sunday, 40 for Monday and at least two for Tuesday.
“If local authorities are telling people not to travel, it’s counterintuitive to try to run a full slate of services when people are being told to stay home,” Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said. “Likewise, we know our people are going to have trouble getting in to work.”
The Mid West was hit especially hard. A train between Chicago and New York and several regional trains between Chicago and St Louis were among those cancelled on Sunday.
Nearly 200 flights in and out of St Louis Lambert International Airport were cancelled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.
From Monday, the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous cold and wind chills, forecasters said. Temperatures could be 7C to 14C below normal.
The north-eastern states are more likely to experience several days of cold after what has mostly been a mild start to winter, said Jon Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. A plume of cold air coming down from Canada is likely to result in a cold but dry week, he said.
A pavement is cleared in St. Louis (Jeff Roberson/AP)
The cold air is likely to grip the eastern half of the country as far south as Georgia, he added, with parts of the East Coast experiencing freezing temperatures.
Wind might also pick up as the week gets going, making for potentially dangerous conditions for people exposed to the elements for long periods of time, Mr Palmer said.
The National Weather Service predicted 8in to 12in of snow for the Annapolis, Maryland, area, with temperatures remaining below freezing throughout the weekend.
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency on Friday evening ahead of the storm and encouraged residents to vote before the state’s special elections on Tuesday.
Similar declarations were issued in Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia and in central Illinois cities.
School closures are likely to be widespread on Monday. Districts in Indiana, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky were already announcing cancellations and delays on Sunday afternoon.