Blizzard threatens 64 million Americans with heavy snowfall, hazardous ice: Please stay home!
The first significant winter storm of the year is endangering a 2,100-mile swath of the country from the Northwest and Plains through the mid-Atlantic and East Coast, bringing a multitude of life-threatening hazards across major metropolitan areas, including heavy snow, near-blizzard conditions and crippling ice accretions that could lead to extended power outages.The storm system worked its way through the northern Rockies and central Plains during the first half of the weekend, hours after slamming the West Coast and even spawning the first tornado of the year in California.Freezing drizzle arrived in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday morning, turning roadways into a sheet of ice and giving a preview of the headaches that loom as the storm moves east.“We cannot stress this enough, law enforcement is working many, many accidents across metro Wichita,” NWS Wichita meteorologists pleaded on X.“Please stay home!”Troopers worked to shut down parts of Interstate 70 in Kansas due to a series of crashes, which put a strain on resources.“I-70 – Salinas, Saline, Dickenson, Lincoln, Russel County — all those counties on I-70 have significant crashes happening,” said Trooper Ben Gardner with the Kansas Highway Patrol.More than 64 million residents were placed under winter weather alerts, including Winter Storm Warnings and Ice Storm Warnings, with major impacts expected between interstates 50 and 70.Dozens of counties in Kansas and Missouri are under Blizzard Warnings on Sunday due to visibilities dropping to less than a quarter-mile with plenty of blowing snow.Salina and Wichita are both included in the alerts, where winds gusting upwards of 50 mph are possible through early Monday.It is the first time in several years that parts of the Wichita and Kansas City metros have been placed under a Blizzard Warning.South of the heavy band of snow, ice is expected to be problematic and could accumulate to nearly an inch from southern Mis...