Potent storm blasts parts of US with sleet, snow and freezing rain

A fierce storm barreling across the country toward the mid-Atlantic states pounded a vast area with a wintry mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain that the Weather Prediction Center warned could bring “significant disruptions” to daily life and travel Sunday and Monday.

The storm glazed roads in ice across Kansas on Saturday and then moved into Missouri. On Sunday, roadways in southern and central Illinois and Kentucky were blanketed in snow and ice.

All highways in northeastern Kansas were closed Sunday evening, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation, causing standstill traffic in some places. The closures included state highways in 17 counties and the east- and westbound lanes of I-70 to the Kansas-Missouri line.

The Kansas City International Airport closed Sunday and nearly all flights were canceled because of ice accumulation, a spokesperson for the airport said. About 275 flights were canceled at St. Louis Lambert International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

Other airports, such as Indianapolis International Airport and Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky International Airport, each had more than 100 canceled flights by Sunday evening, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site.

Early Monday, more than 60,000 customers were without power in Kentucky, according to PowerOutage.us, a tracking website. In Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, more than 30,000 customers were reported without power in each state.

Several businesses across the Midwest closed early Sunday before the storm, including some locations of Schnucks, a regional grocery chain.

As a low-pressure system swept through Kansas and Missouri overnight, dozens of highway crashes were reported, including a snowplow that flipped on its side on an icy road.

The Missouri Highway Patrol on Sunday reported 285 car crashes, with 27 people injured. The state’s Department of Transportation asked drivers to stay off the road through Monday as crews clear roadways.

Several states in the path of the weather system — including Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and West Virginia — declared states of emergency, and Maryland declared a state of preparedness. New Jersey declared a state of emergency for its southern counties. The declarations were intended to improve the states’ responses to the storm through various means.

In Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a snow emergency that will be active through the end of Tuesday. She said that all public schools would close Monday and some government officials would work from home. Authorities in Philadelphia also said public schools would close Monday.

Ohio State University canceled all in-person classes at its main campus in Columbus on Monday, the first day after winter break, because of potentially dangerous driving conditions.

The storm was hitting as arctic air from Canada seeped into the United States.

As the storm system pushes offshore Monday, “brutally cold” air was expected to settle behind it, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the prediction center.

The heaviest snowfall in a decade is expected in some spots.

Nearly 4 million people across much of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska were under a blizzard warning that was scheduled to last until 3 a.m. Monday. Some places were forecast to receive their heaviest snowfall in a decade.

Forecasters warned of wind gusts in excess of 40 mph and snowfall surpassing 15 inches. Blizzard warnings are issued when heavy snow and wind speeds of 35 mph are forecast for three hours or more.

In northern Kansas, a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 70 was closed overnight on Saturday, according to authorities, and video taken of the interstate and posted to Facebook showed vehicles gliding across lanes in all directions, as if on an ice-skating rink.

“Last night was brutal,” said Chris Morris, vice president of Signature Landscape, which provides commercial plowing services.

“It’s going to be the toughest storm that I’ve ever encountered and I’ve been doing this more than 20 years,” he added. “We’re basically getting a year’s worth of snow in 24 hours. This is going to be a record one for sure.”

By Sunday, with blizzard conditions across much of the Kansas City metro area, residents hunkered down as roads and sidewalks become impassable.

Cathy Maxwell, 71, was nursing a bruised hip and head after slipping on her porch while attempting to take her dog out.

“I just touched the brick steps and immediately my feet went out from under me,” Maxwell said. “The snow is blowing so hard, it just pelts you in the face. It is the worst snowstorm I’ve seen in years.”

The storm was forecast to bring snow to the mid-Atlantic.

On Sunday, the system was pushing from the Central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley.

In an elongated area between northeast Missouri and the central Appalachian Mountains, heavy snow was expected with totals of 8 to 14 inches from Saturday into Sunday and Monday. Southern Illinois and Indiana were predicted to receive a few inches of sleet and freezing rain.

To the south of the band of heavy snow, a stripe of freezing rain was predicted to fall from central Kansas into the central Appalachians through Monday, according to the prediction center. Some regions may see ice accumulations exceeding half an inch.

“That rain will freeze on contact and turn to glazing — that’s what sticks to the trees, power lines, roads, cars, car windows, everything,” said Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the prediction center.

By daybreak Monday, snow will be falling across a large part of the mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, and it was expected to continue through the day.

Baltimore was forecast to get 4 to 9 inches of snow and Washington 5 to 9 inches.

By Tuesday, the snow will have ended in the mid-Atlantic. Cold, gusty weather was forecast through the week, with afternoon highs in the 30s in the capital, and overnight lows in the 20s.

“It’s going to be pretty cold for a good part of the week,” Oravec said. From the eastern Rockies to the East Coast, temperatures will be about 10 to 12 degrees below the seasonal average.