More than 60 million Americans are in the grips of a winter storm that could deliver the coldest temperatures and heaviest snowfall the country has seen in over a decade, according to forecasts.
Storm Blair — which is moving towards the mid-Atlantic — has prompted severe weather warnings in more than two dozen states and is expected to bring ice, snow, sleet, and harsh winds as it continues to hit large swathes of the US and Canada.
Parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri have faced blizzard conditions, while Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia are preparing for heavy snow as Blair barrels towards them, the US National Weather Service (NWS) said.
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Northern hemisphere hit hard by snow, blizzards
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06/01/202505:14
said he would not allow the storm to prevent lawmakers from meeting in Congress on Monday to certify Donald Trump's election as president — which is the final step in ratifying the results of the 2024 race.
As the storm travels eastwards, 30 states have been put under weather alerts ranging in severity, according to the National Weather Service.
A state of emergency has also been declared in Kansas, West Virginia, Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, parts of New Jersey, and Kentucky.
Experts say the extreme weather is being caused by what's known as an 'Arctic outbreak' — when the freezing air that usually stays in the polar region moves south, blanketing North America in bitterly cold temperatures.
"This could lead to the coldest January for the US since 2011," AccuWeather director of forecast operations Dan DePodwin told CBS News on Friday when explaining the phenomenon.
He added that there could be up to a week or more of "temperatures that are well below historical average" throughout the country.
The storm has also forced the delay or cancellation of thousands of flights, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. Kansas is the worst affected, with 94 per cent of outbound flights from its international airport cancelled.
Multiple reports of thundersnow — which is when snowfall is accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning — have also emerged in Kansas City, highlighting the intensity of Blair as it sweeps across the region.
From southern Ohio to Washington, between 15 to 30 cm of snowfall is expected in the coming hours, prompting hundreds of schools to announce in advance that they will not open on Monday, including public schools in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Washington, and Philadelphia.
In northern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, freezing rain and sleet are forecast to create "hazardous ice accumulations," the NWS said.
Meanwhile, the back end of the storm system is producing severe thunderstorms capable of creating tornadoes in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, it added.
Blair is expected to move offshore by Monday night local time, but bone-chilling arctic air will follow behind it, with daytime temperatures across the US expected to plummet in the coming days.
With additional reporting by Reuters.
