chicago — Back-to-back blows of snow and wind are expected to impact the eastern half of the United States on Monday Severe weather It swept through much of the country and made roads impassable in the upper Midwest.
Forecasters said the Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., are at high risk of high winds and tornadoes. A cold front is expected to move off the East Coast by Tuesday, bringing extremely cold weather in its wake, forecasters said.
The late winter blast comes as Hawaii continues to be affected by a separate storm system that caused severe flooding over the weekend.
The National Weather Service warned that a series of severe storms accompanied by damaging winds will cross much of the eastern United States. After igniting on Sunday, storms crossed the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys.
The storm threat is expected to enter the Appalachians, then move toward the East Coast, where “severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds and numerous tornadoes” are expected, the service said.
The weather service said the area extending from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared to be most vulnerable to damaging winds Monday afternoon. This could include Raleigh, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and the nation’s capital.
Schools in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, will close Monday, officials said. Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of the expected 74 mph (119 km/h) wind gusts.
Besides the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s winds blowing from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just winds from the storm, you’re looking at several major airports that are affected,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Ruiz said.
Royce said the area from central Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will likely see more than 2 feet (60 cm) of snow, with snow totals on the Peninsula rising. He added that reduced snow accumulation in places like Chicago and Milwaukee will likely cause problems for commuters on Monday.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives in the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on necessities and was prepared to shovel snow several times Sunday with a shovel and snowblower.
“We’re basically prepared to hunker down for a few days if we need to,” Allen said.
More than 600 flights were canceled at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. Dozens more were canceled across Detroit. O’Hare and Midway International Airports in Chicago reported more than 850 flight cancellations.
More than 210,000 utility customers were without power in six states in the Great Lakes region on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. Some of them originated on Friday when wind speeds in the area reached 85 mph (137 km). Widespread power outages were also reported in parts of Pennsylvania and Arkansas.
In Nebraska, about 30 National Guard members were deployed to battle multiple wildfires across a wide swath of grasslands, state officials said. One fire-related death has been reported.
rain Keep falling Sunday in Hawaii, where Acres of farmland and homes was flooded, Roads were closed Shelters were opened. Some areas of Maui received more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bessen said in a social media post.
Maui County later on Sunday lowered its evacuation notice level and said crews were pumping water from retention ponds to keep it at safe levels.
Other parts of the road were inundated with mud and sediment, said resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road collapsing on Saturday.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen this much rain,” he said.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Julie Walker in New York and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, also contributed to this report.