Midwest braces for snow, ice and coldest air of season so far

Winter weather advisories blanket the Midwest ahead of major winter storm.

Travel impacts and power outages expected from Missouri to New England 

A major winter storm is forecast to impact the central Midwest up to the Northeast over the weekend, bringing bitterly cold temperatures, freezing rain, sleet and snow to states from Missouri to Maine.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service expect temperatures from Kentucky northward to dip into the teens with wind chills approaching zero to negatives. Precipitation will develop behind the cold front that will make travel dangerous north of the Interstate 70 corridor. 

Drivers moving through the Midwest over the weekend should be prepared for freezing rain and ice as well as blowing snow, which could cause whiteout conditions at times. 

This snow and ice will add to the ongoing lake effect snow that is currently impacting the western shores of Michigan and the I-90 corridor between Cleveland  and Buffalo, New York.

Significant disruption is also anticipated at airports in the affected areas, especially south/central Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Northern Kentucky, where ice accumulations could get over half an inch.

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.