WASHINGTON - A powerful winter storm began hammering the central United States on Saturday, with meteorologists warning that millions in the east of the country would face blizzard conditions, treacherous ice, frigid temperatures and severe travel disruptions.
More than 60 million people are in the path of the dangerous storm, which is set to plunge the eastern half of the United States into a deep freeze of Arctic air through Monday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of ferocious weather and severe travel delays, with ice, snow and gale-force winds in states from the central plains to the Mid-Atlantic.
Winter storm warnings have been issued from western Kansas clear across to the coastal states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, an unusually broad 2,400-kilometre swath under immediate threat.
"Disruptive winter storm to impact the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic through Monday with widespread heavy snow and damaging ice accumulations," the NWS said in its latest report.
The agency warned that areas from northeastern Kansas to north-central Missouri would see "the heaviest snowfall in a decade."
Scientists say extreme weather is becoming more common and more severe as a result of manmade climate change.
Parts of the eastern states of New York and Pennsylvania are facing "heavy lake-effect snow" coming off the Great Lakes that could dump as much as 61 centimetres there, according to the NWS.
Forecast company AccuWeather said that the lake-effect snow total in the region, already blanketed in snow this week, could top four feet.
A blizzard will rage across the Central Plains by early Sunday, and "whiteout conditions will make travel extremely hazardous, with impassable roads and a high risk of motorists becoming stranded," the NWS said.
The US capital Washington could be blanketed in five inches or more of snow, with up to 10 inches possible in nearby areas.
With the jet stream diving southward, temperatures are expected to plunge, in some places to below -18 Celsius, while strong wind gusts will compound the dangers.