A broad swath of the US won’t have to dream of a White Christmas as winter weather bears down on much of the northwest, midwest and northeast on Sunday. They’ll be seeing snow from two separate storms.
More than 60 million people live in areas that are under winter weather alerts, which includes advisories, warnings and Lake Effect Snow warnings.
One storm system was located over Des Moines, Iowa, and Kansas City on Sunday morning and is moving eastward over the course of the day.
The storm began impacting Chicago around 10 a.m. and is expected to move to Detroit and Cleveland through the morning and in the early afternoon. Heavy snow should begin in Buffalo, New York and Pennsylvania after 8 p.m., and snowfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are expected across a wide band of the northeast region.
Certain narrow bands in upstate New York could see major snowfall totals of two feet or more, due to lake-effect enhancement. The National Weather Service forecast for the area included totals as high as 50 inches in specific parts.
In addition, a new storm system will be coming into Seattle on Sunday morning with up to two-tenths of an inch of ice expected. There is a chance that into the afternoon, the storm will shower snow on the area, instead of freezing rain. If that happens, the National Weather Service is expecting up to 2 inches.
The system will then move into Colorado Sunday night through Christmas Day, which could affect travel conditions.
The wintry weather may cause some delays and other difficulties — both on the roads and in the skies — during one of the busiest times of the year.
According to FlightAware, 660 flights arriving in, departing from or operating within the US were delayed as of 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The delays were particularly notable in Chicago, New York City and Boston.
