Massive winter storm takes aim at Southern states after dumping snow across upper Midwest
Christine FernandoAfter dumping snow across the upper Midwest Friday, a massive snowstorm is set to sweep through the South over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
The storm is expected to impact tens of million people in the U.S., bringing winter weather as far south as Georgia, according to AccuWeather forecasters.
On Saturday, winter hazard alerts covered parts of more than a dozen states, extending as far west as Kansas, as far south as Georgia and as far north as Maine, according to the National Weather Service.
Parts of Virginia and Maryland may see as much as a foot of snow, according to the National Weather Service. The storm may also cause power outages, icy roads and travel problems over the holiday weekend.
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After heaping as much as six inches of snow in parts of Tennessee and light accumulations in northern Mississippi and the Tennessee Valley region of Alabama, the storm will make a U-turn, racing north to the Atlantic Seaboard on Sunday and into Monday, AccuWeather forecasters predict.
Major cities, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston may also be hit with snow Sunday night before heavy snows turn to sleet and freezing rain from areas around Washington, D.C. to New York City and Boston, according to AccuWeather.
Ice accumulation is expected from northeast Georgia through the interior mid-Atlantic states with the most damaging ice coming to parts of the Carolinas, possibly resulting in power outages and tree damage, NWS said.
Multiple states declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, where winter weather earlier this month already left thousands of drivers trapped on jam-packed highways.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
