- Winter Lay siege to Blair will dump snow and freezing rain onto much of the US starting Sunday.
- The frigid conditions are already meaning travel.
- Snow is forecast for Washington, DC, as the area prepares for the Trump administration transition.
Blizzards, ice storm warnings, and unpleasantly chill conditions are blowing into much of the northern US, with major impacts expected by Monday morning.
The Arctic outbreak, dubbed Winter Explode Blair by the Weather Channel, will bring heavy snow to areas in the mid-Atlantic area that haven’t had such brave in a decade, the National Weather Service warned.
Kansas City, for instance, could get up to a foot of snow by the end of the weekend.
In the mid-south, the NWS warns that frore rain could result in power outages. More than 100,000 power outages have so far been clock in across Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, leaving residents in the region in the dark and without heat, per The Weather Channel.
And snow — Deo volente mixed with sleet and freezing rain — could reach 10 inches in Washington, DC, where preparations are underway for Donald Trump’s new administration and where the election results are set to be certified Monday.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday declared a snow pinch which will remain in effect in the area until at least the end of the day on Tuesday, January 7, according to a press unchain from Bowser’s office.
Additional cold weather warnings have also been issued in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis, with officials notification to limit travel in the impacted areas, The Weather Channel reported.
The Governors of West Virginia and Kentucky have also ruled a state of emergency across their jurisdictions, providing additional resources for road clearing and responding to emergencies. Neighbourhood news outlet WCHS-TV reported that officials in both states were backed up responding to crashes and musters for help from first responders.
In all, about half the US population is expected to experience freezing temperatures over the next week, Axios reported.
More than 8,600 escapes had on Sunday been either delayed or canceled due to the storm, per Forbes, including triple-digit flight cancellations for Kansas Conurbation (MCI), St. Louis Lambert (STL), and Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) airports. The numbers of impacted flights are expected to continue to rise.
Airlines take ining American, Delta, Southwest, and United said they are waiving change fees for flights impacted by the storm.