A huge winter storm began pounding the Midwest early Sunday, while the Northeast braced for the same churning system of snow and ice to arrive overnight – just in time to snarl the Monday morning commute.
By the time the latest wintry wallop is over, over 90 million people will likely have dealt with ice, sleet, snow or all three, according to Weather.com
The storm "is going to be a real mess," said Bruce Sullivan, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Maryland.
"The main system is injecting a lot of moisture and cold air out over the Southern Plains," he said. "It's going to bring quite a bit of precipitation."
Chicago had already fielded more than 3 inches of snow by Sunday morning but it tapered off before Jimmy Fallon took part in his inaugural a polar plunge into icy Lake Michigan in 20 degree temperatures, according to NBC Chicago.
Still, the weather cancelled more than 150 flights out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday morning.
Nearly 2,500 flights into and out of the U.S. were cancelled by 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, according to FlightAware.com.
Delta, Southwest and JetBlue Airlines issued weather advisories and said they would waive cancellation fees in more than a dozen airports, including those in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington D.C.
“Based on the weather forecast, we are expecting widespread flight cancellations,” read a statement from Regan National and Dulles International airports in Washington D.C.
Monday Senate votes were postponed until Tuesday, as the city expected freezing rain, which would turn to snow and blanket the nation’s capital with 2 to 3 inches by sunrise on Monday, according to NBC Washington meteorologist Chuck Bell.
Widespread power outages are likely in areas where freezing rain accumulates on tree limbs as the storm moves through the Midwest, the Weather Channel warned.
In Lake County, Ohio, 43,000 residents lost power overnight, and 4,000 were still without power on Sunday afternoon, according to NBC affiliate, WKYC.
A mixture of sleet and snow in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois will eventually change over to all snow — with up to 8 inches forecast for Kansas City and the St. Louis area — while northern Arkansas will see freezing rain.
The National Weather Service said the storm was forecast to move east over the Rockies and into the Plains and Mississippi Valley through Sunday, bringing a mix of freezing rain and ice.
Parts of Missouri racked up 4 inches of snow overnight Sunday and some areas of the state saw a half inch of sleet, according to NBC affiliate KSHB.
In Arkansas, stormy conditions hampered the 12th annual Little Rock Marathon and Half Marathon, according to the event’s website. “Severe thunderstorms in the area have become dangerous for participants, forcing the closing of our courses and the rerouting of the remainder of today’s running and walking events,” said Little Rock Marathon Race Director Gina Pharis.
Central Indiana was under a winter storm warning from Saturday night into Monday morning, and is set to accumulate 5 to 8 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. As of Feb. 15, the state had already seen its snowiest winter in three decades, the state Transportation Department said.
But eyes are already turning to the Appalachians and the East Coast, where the wintry mix will turn to snow during Sunday night into Monday.
Up to six inches of snow could fall on New York City and up to eight inches in parts of Long Island and New Jersey overnight Sunday, making for a slow and messy commute Monday morning, NBC New York reported.
NBC10 First Alert Chief Meteorologist Glenn Schwartz said the large storm system's outer edge would be arriving in the Philadelphia area by Sunday afternoon. "Because it'll be in the 40's during the day, it'll take a little while for problems to develop," he said. "But they will and then gradually spread southwards."
The system has already caused chaos in the Rockies. More than 100 vehicles were caught in collisions on Saturday on Interstate 25 in Denver, including 45 involved in a chain-reaction accident caused by "slick roads, fog, and human error," Denver police said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
First published March 2 2014, 4:01 AM
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