Storm expected to bring snow, ice to Northeast, affecting air, road travel

A storm system that brought heavy snow and strong winds to the Great Plains and the Midwest was moving Sunday toward the Northeast, forecasters said, threatening holiday travel plans. By Sunday morning, the storm had brought 14 inches of snow in Fargo, N.D., and about a foot in parts of

Nebraska and South Dakota. The system is expected to move across the Great Lakes and arrive in New England by Tuesday, making severe ice storms possible, said meteorologist Patrick Burke of the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md. Several airlines issued travel notices for the upper Midwest, including United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, offering people who are traveling just ahead of the new year the chance to change tickets without being charged a fee.

Road travel, particularly in the upper Midwest or the Great Plains, could be dangerous, Burke said. As the storm intensifies, strong winds will affect some of these areas, causing poor visibility and “making the driving conditions quite hazardous, if not locally impossible, for the next couple of days,” Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, said.