Winter weather alerts issued for millions as storm moves across parts of US

A winter storm bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain was set to move across several parts of the U.S. this week, while winter conditions over the weekend in the Central Plains and Midwest triggered deadly crashes.

The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to spread from the Central Plains into the Northeast through Tuesday. 

The agency issued winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories from the southern Rockies into the Central Plains, mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and parts of the Northeast.

The first wave of snow and ice could impact travel in the mid-Atlantic and central Appalachians on Monday, including Philadelphia, according to the Weather Channel.

A second wave of wintry weather on Monday was expected to move out of the Central Plains through the mid-Mississippi and Ohio valleys — bringing heavy snowfall through the Interstate 70 corridor to cities like St. Louis and Indianapolis.

On Monday night, snow was expected to spread father north across the Northeast and into upstate New York and southern New England, forecasters said.

Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and tornadoes were also possible over the northern Gulf Coast on Monday, forecasters said.

“In general, this will be a modest, but disruptive snow and ice event that will create more travel headaches for tens of millions from the Midwest to the Northeast,” the Weather Channel said.

Parts of northern Pennsylvania, southern upstate New York and southern and central New England could see 3 to 6 inches of snowfall, according to the network — while “light ice accumulations” could create icy travel conditions for parts of southern Missouri into the Ohio Valley and the Northeast through Tuesday.

On Sunday, authorities in Missouri said they responded to more than 500 stranded driver calls and dozens of injury crashes due to wintry weather. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said four people died in weather-related crashes.

“Avoid travel if you can,” the Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote on Twitter.

In Nebraska, four people died in two different crashes Sunday on snowy roads, according to the Associated Press.

In Kansas, a 12-mile stretch of Interstate 70 was closed Sunday near Manhattan after a crash involving three semitrailer trucks and two other vehicles.