Snow, floods, tornadoes forecast

A potent storm will deliver a mix of snow, ice, rain, floods and possibly tornadoes to much of the central and eastern USA into Thursday and will be followed by yet another blast of arctic cold by week’s end.

About 55 million people live in the areas threatened with floods.

Wednesday, the storm dumped heavy snow over the upper Midwest, closing schools and wreaking havoc on the roads and at the airports. Some of the heaviest snow fell in Iowa and Wisconsin, where 6 to 8 inches was reported, according to the Weather Channel.

Even where the snow stopped in the Dakotas and Minnesota, howling winds led to whiteout conditions. A warning for the “ground blizzard” was in effect until early Thursday.

South of the snowy weather, heavy rain was expected to pelt much of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic into Thursday. Along the Gulf Coast, high winds and tornadoes were possible, the Storm Prediction Center said.

As much as 3 inches of rain could soak some areas Thursday. Flooding is possible in the major I-95 cities from Washington to Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, AccuWeather said.

The weather service issued flood watches from North Carolina to southern New England, as well as part of southern Ohio, affecting tens of millions of people.

Once the storm moves offshore, the next arctic blast will roar into the northern Plains and upper Midwest on Thursday and into the eastern USA by Thursday night.

Temperatures in the northern Plains will bottom out near 30 below. The intense cold will move into the East and South by Friday and into the weekend.

As frigid as this outbreak is, an even chillier, potentially record-breaking cold snap will roar into the northcentral USA next week.

“The coldest temperatures are yet to come,” the weather service office in Duluth, Minnesota, said.