Winter Storm Blair Blasts Half US Population With Frigid Conditions

• Winter Storm Blair will dump snow and freezing rain onto much of the US starting Sunday.
• The frigid conditions are already impacting travel.
• Snow is forecast for Washington, DC, as the area prepares for the Trump administration transition.

Blizzards, ice storm warnings, and unpleasantly cold conditions are blowing into much of the northern US, with major impacts expected by Monday morning.

The Arctic outbreak, dubbed Winter Storm Blair by the Weather Channel, will bring heavy snow to areas in the mid-Atlantic area that haven’t had such weather in a decade, the National Weather Service warned.

Kansas City, for instance, could get up to a foot of snow by the end of the weekend.

In the mid-south, the NWS warns that freezing rain could result in power outages. More than 100,000 power outages have so far been reported across Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, leaving residents in the region in the dark and without heat, per The Weather Channel.

And snow — possibly mixed with sleet and freezing rain — could reach 10 inches in Washington, DC, where preparations are underway for Donald Trump’s incoming administration and where the election results are set to be certified Monday.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday declared a snow emergency which will remain in effect in the area until at least the end of the day on Tuesday, January 7, according to a press release from Bowser’s office.

Additional cold weather warnings have also been issued in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis, with officials warning to limit travel in the impacted areas, The Weather Channel reported.

The Governors of West Virginia and Kentucky have also declared a state of emergency across their jurisdictions, providing additional resources for road clearing and responding to emergencies. Local news outlet WCHS-TV reported that officials in both states were backed up responding to crashes and calls for help from first responders.

In all, about half the US population is expected to experience freezing temperatures over the next week, Axios reported.

More than 8,600 flights had on Sunday been either delayed or canceled due to the storm, per Forbes, including triple-digit flight cancellations for Kansas City (MCI), St. Louis Lambert (STL), and Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) airports. The numbers of impacted flights are expected to continue to rise.

Airlines including American, Delta, Southwest, and United said they are waiving change fees for flights impacted by the storm.