Winter storm warnings are in place for parts of 17 states as snow carpets the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, while the Deep South continues to face a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued alerts for Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, the Virginias and Washington state, as well as Washington D.C.
It comes as more than a thousand flights have already been canceled, as the effects of continual winter storms are prolonged by an Arctic blast of cold air from Canada, bringing dangerous wind chills and icy conditions—with further bad weather to arrive later in the week.
In its latest forecast, the agency said there would be a brief reprieve from the "brutal" cold temperatures on Tuesday, after "concurrent areas of wintry precipitation along both coastlines and frigid Arctic air sandwiched over the Central and Southern U.S."
While precipitation is expected to subside in the Great Lakes region, those conditions will not last for long. New England could see an additional eight inches of snow through to Wednesday.
The NWS said the Arctic air mass would interact with an area of low pressure to create "another episode of significant freezing rain," including over Portland, Oregon. It comes after the region was battered by a series of powerful winter storms from the Pacific.
In Oregon and Washington, 20 inches of snow and winds of 45 miles an hour are expected in the Blue Mountains, while up to 28 inches of snow accumulations are anticipated in the Cascades. In the valleys of west-central and eastern Washington, up to a foot of snow is set to fall.
In western Montana, up to two feet of snow is expected in parts, with wind gusts of up to 35 mph. Similar conditions are predicted for northern Idaho.
As of 4:20 a.m. ET on Tuesday, 70 flights in and out of Seattle Tacoma International Airport had been canceled, according to statistics compiled by FlightAware.
The wintry mix of precipitation in the Deep South is expected to move from the southeast into the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic through Tuesday. But warnings remain in place for many southeastern states over the residual effects.
Freezing rain, sleet and snow—as well as ice accumulations of a 10th of an inch—are foreseen for southeastern Arkansas, into northeastern Louisiana and central Mississippi. Wind chills for the region are expected to reach -5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Warnings are also in place for northeastern Georgia, where freezing rain is expected to leave ice of a 10th of an inch. This continues into regions of North Carolina bordering Tennessee, where an additional inch of snow could fall and wind chills will reach -20 degrees.
Eastern Tennessee will see heavy mixed precipitation, with a further inch of snow and a light glaze of ice. In eastern Kentucky, up to five inches of snow is expected, with up to eight inches falling at higher elevations.
Airports in the southeast continue to be impacted by the winter storm, with Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport seeing the most cancellations so far on Tuesday—150 departures or arrivals—while Nashville International has seen 77 cancellations.
As the winter storm moves northeastward, western Virginia and West Virginia are set to see snow and wind chills of -20 degrees, with local areas of heavy snow and mixed precipitation in parts.
Portions of central Maryland including Washington D.C., as well as the state's panhandle, are predicted to have heavy snow that could turn into freezing rain. Up to eight inches of snow is expected to fall, while wind chills will reach -20 degrees.
Parts of southeast Pennsylvania will be subject to heavy snow, bringing up to six inches of snow accumulation, while northern Maine will experience up to a foot of snow, with some ice forming.
On Monday, 3,335 flights were canceled within, into or out of the U.S., with nearly 10,000 delayed. Some 1,582 were canceled on Sunday, with nearly 9,000 delayed.
Carriers impacted by the adverse weather—including United, Southwest and Alaska Airlines—are offering affected passengers the ability to rebook flights without additional charges.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
