A severe winter storm has brought a mixture of freezing snow and freezing rain to the middle region of the United States on Wednesday.
Airlines suspended hundreds of flights, governors advised residents to stay off the roads, and schools closed their campuses, as per a report.
The rumble of cold weather started arriving on Tuesday night and placed states from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine under winter storm watches and warnings. In the early hours of Wednesday, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan were hit with snow and freezing rain.
The storm was already dropping large amounts of snow across Kansas and portions of Missouri on Wednesday morning, with forecasters advising an increase in intensity through the rest of the day. More than one foot of snow was expected in the central parts of Missouri and Michigan while a foot of snow is expected to be falling Wednesday and Thursday across the central and northeastern regions of Illinois.
The areas south of the heavy snow could see freezing rain. As much as three-quarters of an inch of ice may fall in areas of Arkansas, forecasters warned, and could lead to the possibility of widespread power outages.
The winter storm followed a severe nor’easter this past weekend, which caused blizzard conditions to many areas across the East Coast.
The impact of the storm stretched all the way to Texas, almost a year after a disruptive freeze affected its power grid. The forecast didn’t suggest the same extreme cold and long-lasting temperatures as the February 2021 storm. The National Weather Service said the system would generally not be as severe this time around for Texas.
