Winter Storm Will Be 'Coast to Coast, Top to Bottom'

After battering West Coast, system is set to dump snow on Plains, Midwest
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2022 3:32 PM CST
Winter Storm Will Be 'Coast to Coast, Top to Bottom'
A car passes a caution sign as heavy snow falls on the Mt. Rose Highway near Reno, Nev.   (Jason Bean/Reno Gazette-Journal via AP)

Americans in the lower 48 states who haven't already been affected by a massive winter storm making its way across the country should brace for some wild weather, forecasters say. A storm system that hit the West over the weekend will "bring significant, widespread weather hazards from severe weather to blizzard conditions to the central US," with flash flooding and severe weather possible in the Plains on Monday and the Lower Mississippi Valley on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said in an update Monday. "This winter storm is a true coast-to-coast, top-to-bottom impact that will be felt by every person in the country at some point this week," says CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.

After making its way across the Rockies, the system is expecting to stall over the Central Plains until Thursday, bringing "several days of heavy snow and blowing snow, including blizzard conditions, and freezing rain extending into the Upper Midwest," per the NWS Storm Prediction Center. "Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flooding will be possible in the South." Blizzard or winter storm warnings were in effect Monday for Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, with some areas expected to get more than 2 feet of snow, USA Today reports.

The storm system closed mountain highways in California and Nevada on Sunday and triggered flood and avalanche watches in the region, the AP reports. Some 6,000 flights were canceled Sunday, and some parts of the Sierra Nevada saw around 5 feet of snow. "The snowpack is about 225% of normal, so it's more than twice what we’d be expecting this time in December," says Mark Deutschendorf at the NWS office in Reno, Nevada, per CNN. (More winter storm stories.)

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