A major winter storm was bringing disruptive snow and sleet to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States on Monday, snarling morning commutes and daily routines after having punished the Midwest with blizzards and freezing rain.
Dangerous driving conditions were expected from West Virginia to Delaware, the Weather Prediction Center said, with up to 12 inches of snow expected in some areas, including Washington.
The storm was moving east from the Midwest, where Kansas and Missouri were particularly hard hit. The National Weather Service of Kansas City reported on social media that Kansas City International Airport had received 11 inches of snow on Sunday, the fourth-largest single-day total in the city’s recorded history. In Topeka, the Weather Service said late Sunday it expected a final total of 14.1 inches, the third-highest single-day snowfall recorded in the area.
In the Kansas City metropolitan area, residents hunkered indoors amid ice- and snow-covered driveways, and roads deemed too treacherous for travel. Some areas experienced lightning and booming thunder along with wind gusts of up to 35 miles an hour as the storm moved across the region.
“This is a rare blizzard for Kansas City,” Gary Lezak, a longtime meteorologist in the area, said on Sunday. “It is insanely cold.”
The storm caused numerous crashes over the weekend. West of Salina, Kan., a fire truck, multiple tractor-trailers, and passenger vehicles overturned. Several trucks went spiraling into ditches as icy roads became impassable.