USA TODAY International Edition
Winter storm hits Rockies, heads east
A potent winter storm that dumped heavy snow on the Rockies Monday will crawl toward the central and eastern U. S. throughout the rest of the week, forecasters say.
On Monday, the storm forced the closure of schools and roads in Wyoming, Idaho and Utah, and it caused hourslong flight delays at Salt Lake City’s airport. Many locations in Utah recorded more than a foot of snow Monday, the National Weather Service reported.
Several Utah school districts took the rare step of canceling classes. It was only the second snow day for the Salt Lake City School District in nearly 20 years.
In Denver, temperatures Monday afternoon were in the 20s as it snowed, a day after a sunny high of 74 degrees, AccuWeather said.
After moving away from the Rockies on Tuesday, the storm will produce a band of snow and ice from the southern Plains to the interior Northeast over the next few days, the National Weather Service said.
Tuesday night and into Wednesday, “several inches of snow is possible in a swath from northern Texas to southwestern Missouri,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Sadvary.
The wintry weather will spread toward the southern Great Lakes, Pennsylvania, New York and parts of New England on Wednesday night and into Thursday, Weather. com said.
In the South, heavy rainfall, flooding and severe thunderstorms are forecast Tuesday through Thursday.
“Rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are forecast in a swath through Arkansas, the boot heel of Missouri, and into Kentucky and the Tennessee Valley through Wednesday evening,” the weather service said.
There is a small risk of severe thunderstorms across portions of the lower Mississippi River valley on Tuesday, the Storm Prediction Center said, and along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday.