Snow blanketed highways and neighborhoods from Long Island to the Florida Panhandle overnight, transforming familiar roads into wintry scenes rarely seen this far south and making travel across the eastern half of the United States a busy holiday weekend.
Flight delays continued to pile up Sunday for thousands, foiling Martin Luther King Jr. weekend travel plans for thousands. More than 4,100 flights to, from and within the United States were delayed and 442 were canceled, according to FlightAware.com.
Two separate storm systems spread across the country, placing roughly 55 million people under winter alert from the northern Plains and Great Lakes to the Northeast and parts of the Southeast.
A long line of snow and rain showers stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast, with snow reported as far south as the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and Alabama – marking the second year in a row that snow has fallen in Florida, according to The associated press.
Snowfall reported as of 10 a.m. Sunday included 5 inches in Whitefield, New Hampshire, 4.5 inches in Saratoga Springs, New York, 3 inches in Smithville, Georgia and 2.8 inches in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
Further south in Foxborough, snow fell at Gillette Stadium as the Houston Texans took on the New England Patriots in an NFL divisional playoff game Sunday afternoon.
Snow made travel hazardous across large swaths of the eastern United States. In Berks County, Pennsylvania, several vehicles crashed into each other Saturday in a chain-reaction pileup on Interstate 78 as the slick spread across the region.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul warned that heavy snowfall and strong wind gusts could continue to disrupt travel early next week and even cause power outages.
“State agencies are mobilized and ready, but the safest choice is to limit travel when possible, make sure you have supplies on hand, check on vulnerable neighbors and stay informed as conditions continue to change through Tuesday,” Hochul said in a statement.
Air travel continued to be hardest hit in the Northeast. New York’s John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia International Airports are responsible for the lion’s share of delays and cancellations nationwide as snow and freezing temperatures have slowed operations. A ground delay was also issued at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday afternoon due to inclement weather, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Video from the airport showed a new layer of snow covering the area around the airport.
Farther south, snow fell in parts of Alabama and Georgia, dusting roads and neighborhoods unaccustomed to winter conditions. Totals from this system were expected to range from a light dusting to about an inch in Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.
Showers in the Southeast will gradually diminish in the afternoon, while snow will intensify Sunday evening as the system moves from the Mid-Atlantic region into New England. Lingering snow showers could persist in parts of Massachusetts and Maine through Monday morning.
Along the Interstate 95 corridor, forecasters said accumulations would generally remain low farther south, with dust reaching up to an inch in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Heavier snow was forecast farther north, with 1 to 4 inches in New York and Philadelphia and 3 to 6 inches in the Boston area.
North Level System
A separate storm system continues to bring heavy snow and strong winds to parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota Sunday morning, with blizzard conditions expected with snowfall combined with wind gusts of 60 mph to create whiteout conditions.
By Sunday evening, snow will move to parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
Heavy bands of lake-effect snow could persist through Tuesday, producing accumulations of 6 to 12 inches in western Michigan, western Pennsylvania and western New York. Forecasters warn that New York’s Tug Hill Plateau could see snowfall totals of 2 to 3 feet.
Cold temperatures remain
About 51 million people in the Great Plains, Ohio Valley and Southeast regions are under cold weather alerts.
An active Arctic weather pattern will keep temperatures well below average in the eastern half of the country. High temperatures Sunday are expected to remain 10 to 20 degrees below average, with temperatures in the single digits and teens across the northern Plains and 20 to 40 degrees extending from the Northeast to the Gulf.
Cold weather alerts are in effect for 42 million people in the Midwest, including Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago, where nighttime wind chills will dip as low as 20 to 35 degrees below zero. These cold weather alerts also include Alabama and the Florida Peninsula, where nighttime wind chills could drop to the upper 20s. Despite the dangerous cold, no record lows are expected.
Daytime maximum temperatures will remain 10 to 25 degrees below average early next week, with some temperatures rebounding by midweek.
Mirna Alsharif is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Christine Rapp
Christine Rapp is a meteorologist for NBC News.
