The United States is likely to experience its biggest winter storm in the decade as dangerous wintry conditions descended on Sunday.
Almost a dozen states from New Jersey to Kansas were under the winter storm restrictions on Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Reports indicate that over 60 million people were under some sort of weather alert, while air traffic monitoring site FlightAware showed almost 2,200 flight cancellations and over 25,000 delays.
Gusty winds from the snowstorm system brought deadly blizzard conditions to several states, including Missouri and Kansas, while several inches of snow covered the country’s Far East provinces.
The authorities have advised people to “stay back home” till further directions; several other states have witnessed prolonged power cuts and shortages in essential supplies.
A mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow began hitting Kansas early Sunday morning. Storm chaser Brian Emfinger said on X that roads around Kansas City were "a skating rink."
With the jet stream diving southward, temperatures are expected to plunge, in some places to below zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius), while strong wind gusts compound the dangers.
The mercury could sink tens of degrees below seasonal norms down to the US Gulf Coast, according to official weather forecasts.
The new storm "will likely cause significant disruption and dangerous conditions on our roads and could cause significant power outages just 24 hours or so before it's going to get really cold in Kentucky," Governor Andy Beshear told an emergency meeting.
Some of the worst-affected states, like Missouri and Virginia, have declared a state of emergency, and authorities have urged residents to stay back home.
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