(NewsNation) — Millions of Americans woke up Sunday morning to winter storm and blizzard warnings — a system that forecasters are calling one of the strongest winter storms in more than a decade.
The storms span from Colorado to Washington, D.C., and the worst of it is still to come across the Midwest and Mid-South before heading east toward Philadelphia and the I-95 corridor.
Heavy snow from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic will bring “damaging ice” and “freezing rain” through late Monday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow started falling in Utah Saturday, and then began moving east through the Rockies. Salt Lake City picked up more than a foot of snow in a matter of hours.
The first few bands of winter weather caused travel disruptions from Denver through Kansas, creating a bit of a headache for the Kansas City Chiefs football team, whose plane got stuck on the tarmac Saturday for more than three hours due to icy conditions.
The Chiefs landed in Denver late Saturday night ahead of their game Sunday afternoon against the Denver Broncos.
Crews were working in Kansas City to get the roads ready as people rushed to the stores to stock up on groceries, water and other essential items.
As much as 20 inches of snow is forecast around the Kansas City metro area.
“Shelves are empty. These lines are long. Honestly, all we’re trying to do out here is be as nice to each other as possible because we’re all doing the same thing,” said Caitlynn O’Hara, an Instacart shopper.
“I’m telling you, when the milk truck showed up, we were doing everything in our power to get it stocked,” said Karla Quandt, store director of Hy-Vee Grocery Store in Shawnee, Kansas. “The refrigerated truck with the eggs, we were literally pulling that and just stocking as fast as we can.”
Blizzard warnings are in effect for Kansas City and points west until 3 a.m. local time Monday, and winter storm warnings are in effect for parts of 15 states.
The storm system stretches from the Kansas-Oklahoma border to the Atlantic and is only just ramping up. State officials as far east as Virginia are already urging residents to prepare for a long week.
The winter storm will not directly impact any major airline hubs, so cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Atlanta will they spared, although conditions at the smaller regional airports may create a trickle-down effect.
Other areas are seeing flight cancellations, however. Across the Midwest, more than half of all flights into and out of Kansas City and St. Louis are canceled Sunday. Cincinnati, Ohio, is also seeing delays piling up.
States of emergency are in effect in Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana as many kids are returning to school from winter break.
