Snowstorm over the eastern US, authorities sent warnings

Millions of Americans from the Midwest to the US East Coast face the threat of blizzards, heavy snow and freezing rain through Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) announced Saturday. The governors of Kentucky and Virginia declared states of emergency in anticipation of the winter storm. “The storm is still forming,” said NWS meteorologist Rich Bann. “It presents multiple hazards, from heavy snow in the plains to significant ice covering the roads to the south of the country.”

He added that winter weather warnings apply to more than 60 million people in the US this weekend.

Up to 30 cm of snow could be seen in a belt stretching eastward from Nebraska and Kansas across Ohio, Indiana, southwestern Pennsylvania, and northwestern Virginia. Ice could break power lines and cause malfunctions.

Winter freezing rain and ice will hit Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee on Sunday, Bann said, which will likely make roads very slippery.

“In some areas it will be almost impossible to drive,” he said.

The Kansas City International Airport in Missouri has been temporarily closed since Saturday afternoon due to rapidly accumulating ice, officials announced on social media.

Bann said the storm should move up the East Coast into the Atlantic Ocean by late Monday, but a fresh burst of arctic air will bring a cold front to the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. by mid-afternoon. next week.