Snow and ice blanketed major roads across Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the state’s National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. At least 8 inches of snow was expected, along with gusting winds up to 45 mph.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri all the way to New Jersey.
“For locations in this region that receive the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” the weather service said.
School closings are expected to be widespread Monday. Districts in Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky began announcing cancellations and delays on Sunday afternoon. Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools canceled classes, extracurricular activities and athletics for its nearly 100,000 students.
Classes also have been cancelled in Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency Sunday and announced the state government would be closed Monday.
“Keeping Marylanders safe is our top priority. Please stay off the roads during this storm. Prepare your home and family and charge your communications devices in case you lose power,” Moore said in a statement.
Over the weekend, at least 600 motorists were stranded in Missouri, authorities said. Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was hit.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who declared a state emergency, said government buildings would be closed Monday.
“We see far too many wrecks out there for people that do not have to be on the roads, so I want to ask: Stay inside,” Beshear said.
Virginia State Police reported at least 135 crashes as the storm entered the state Sunday. In Charleston, West Virginia, where several inches of snow had fallen by Sunday night, authorities urged motorists to stay home.
The storms caused havoc for the nation’s passenger railways with more than 20 cancellations Sunday and about 40 planned Monday.
“If local authorities are telling people not to travel, it’s counterintuitive to try to run a full slate of services when people are being told to stay home,” Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said.
Nearly 200 flights in and out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport were canceled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.
Starting Monday, the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. will experience dangerous bone-chilling cold and wind chills, forecasters said. Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees below normal.
In Chicago, temperatures hovered Sunday in the teens and dropped to 11 below (minus 11.7 Celsius) in International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border.
The Northeastern states are more likely to experience several days of cold after a mostly mild start to winter, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Palmer in Gray, Maine.
The cold air likely will grip the eastern U.S. as far south as Georgia with parts of the East Coast experiencing single-digit lows, Palmer said.
