A new March storm is getting underway, expected to bring a variety of weather impacts across the country.
Winter Storm Warnings stretch from Montana to Michigan, with a smattering of Blizzard Warnings across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Slivers of Illinois and Nebraska are under warnings as well.
Heavy snow and strong winds up to 60 mph possible, with the National Weather Service warning that travel will likely become impossible late Saturday and Sunday.
There are also wind alerts for over 100 million people, either under a wind advisory or high wind warning.
This storm will push into the Upper Midwest through Saturday evening and overnight Saturday. It will intensify as it does so, with snow turning heavy from Minneapolis on east into the Great Lakes region by Sunday morning.
Nearly 1,300 flights have been canceled already due to the weather. Approximately half of those cancellations are from Delta Airlines, as it proactively cancelled some flights for this weekend at Midwest airports, including at its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub.
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Severe weather threat
On the southern side of the powerful system, a line of severe storms will develop from Michigan down to Texas Sunday afternoon into the night.
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An "Enhanced" risk (Level 3/5) has already been issued for parts of the Midwest on Sunday, from Indianapolis to just north of Memphis. Widespread damaging wind gusts will be the main threat although a few tornadoes will be possible along with large hail.
Chicago could go from thunderstorms on Sunday night to snow and whiteout conditions on Monday.
On Monday, the major storm will continue to move east. There will still be snow and wind across the Great Lakes and rounds of heavy rain and strong winds moving into the Northeast.
More severe weather will continue across the East Coast on Monday late afternoon into the evening from the Florida Panhandle up to Pennsylvania.
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An "Enhanced" risk (level 3 of 5) has been issued for parts of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. This includes Columbia, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, D.C; Baltimore, Maryland; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The threats will be damaging winds, some large hail and a few tornadoes.
By the time snow winds down on Monday, a widespread swath of 3 to 6 inches of snow will be likely from Montana to the northern fringes of Upstate New York. The heaviest snow is expected from the Twin Cities east into the Great Lakes, where accumulations may be on the order of feet and not inches. Even areas not under the Blizzard Warning will be subject blowing snow and reduced visibility.
