Residents across the Northern Plains are hunkering down on Wednesday as a massive winter storm expected to impact millions threatens to bring record snowfall to parts of the country.
Schools across the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin have announced closures for Wednesday ahead of the major storm as officials warn residents to stay off the roads due to potential “whiteout” conditions.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm, blizzard and high-wind advisories for swaths of the western and north-central U.S., with up to two feet of snow expected in some areas through to Thursday.
‘Numerous weather hazards’
The arrival of a large Arctic air mass from Canada “interacting with an energetic upper-level pattern and multiple frontal systems forecast to move through the country this week will bring numerous weather hazards,” the National Weather Service said.
Widespread heavy snow is expected to continue across the West and Northern Tier of the country, with storm total snowfall of 1 to 2 feet expected for most of the mountain ranges across the West, the weather service said. The heaviest amounts of snowfall are expected to fall across east-central Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin, it said.
Wind gusts could also reach 50 mph, with wind chills expected to reach minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota, according to the weather service.
“As forecasts predict up to 20 inches of snow, I’ve directed state agencies, including @MnDPS_MSP, @MnDOT, and @MNNationalGuard, to take steps to prepare,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Residents warned to ‘limit travel’
“We’re working to ensure we’re ready — and Minnesotans have a part to play, too. Plan ahead, drive safe, and limit travel,” he said.
“Snowplow crews will be out working statewide, but this storm could be a doozy,” the Minnesota Department of Transportation said in a tweet.
Schools across the state also announced closures, with Minneapolis Public Schools saying on its website all MPS buildings would be closed “due to the upcoming winter storm.”
“We will have e-learning days for all MPs students for the remainder of this week,” the district said.
“The snow will begin to taper off to the north Wednesday and focus further south through Thursday,” it said.
Heavy winds and power outages
California is also facing winter weather, with winds that began on Tuesday expected to bring possible rain, snow and hail to parts of the state.
As of early Wednesday morning, tens of thousands of utility customers across the state were without power. More than 154,700 customers were affected by the outages, according to online outage tracking website PowerOutage.us.
The National Weather Service warned “there will be little to no break from the active weather in California as another Pacific storm system is forecast to approach the coast late Thursday, with continued lower elevation rain/higher elevation snow chances.”
Record warm elsewhere
Meanwhile, moderate to locally heavy rains, as well as some thunderstorms, are expected for lower elevations of the West Coast, with rain expected to spread southward from the Pacific Northwest Wednesday to the California Coast by Thursday.
As much of the U.S. contends with snow and cold weather, record warmth is expected to hit the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
“Highs Wednesday-Thursday will soar into the 70s and 80s from the Southern Plains east into the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic,” The National Weather Service said. “These highs on Thursday will be particularly anomalous for the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic, where temperatures 40+ degrees above average will feel more like June than February.”
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
