(Reuters) – A winter storm brought snow, ice and cold to a wide swath of the US on Sunday, with about 60 million people in more than a dozen states from Kansas to New Jersey under winter weather warnings and advisories.
The storm was headed for the mid-Atlantic, where Washington, DC was bracing for heavy snow and freezing temperatures on Monday, the same day the US Congress will convene and officially confirm the election of Donald Trump as president.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News on Sunday that the weather won’t stop lawmakers from doing their jobs. But the organization’s offices in the nation’s capital will be closed, the Office of Personnel Management announced.
Kansas and parts of northwest Missouri were enduring snowy conditions, the National Weather Service said. Roads were covered in snow and ice, and officials urged residents to avoid travel.
Most of the main artery in Kansas, Interstate 70, was closed throughout Sunday due to snow and ice.
In Missouri, state police are sweeping a closed area of more than 50 miles of Interstate 29, searching for stranded drivers. As of Sunday afternoon, the military has responded to nearly 600 drivers in 285 accidents, the organization told X.
Total (EPA:) between six and 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of snow was expected from southern Ohio to Washington. Hundreds of schools announced in advance that they would not be open Monday because of the storm, including public schools in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Washington and Philadelphia.
In northern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, heavy rain and snow will produce “dangerous snow accumulation,” the service said. The trailing edge of the storm system, on the other hand, was producing severe thunderstorms capable of blowing tornadoes across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The storm forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights, including more than 275 in Kansas City and St. Louis, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
Governors in several states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Virginia, have declared states of emergency.
The storm will move offshore Monday night, but with bone-chilling arctic air moving in behind it, daytime temperatures Monday and Tuesday are forecast to be 10 to 20 degrees F below average from the Great Plains to the East Coast, according to the weather service.
