DENVER, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A dangerous, colossal storm will pound 100 million people in the U.S. Rockies, Great Plains and Midwest with snow, sleet and freezing rain, forecasters said.
The Groundhog Day storm -- starting in some areas Monday and trouncing a third of the U.S. population, or 100 million people, by Wednesday, Groundhog Day -- will be felt from Colorado's Front Range to the Ohio Valley and through the Appalachian Mountains and Mid-Atlantic states Tuesday before unleashing its fury on the East Coast north into New England Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
The Midwest storm will be marked by heavy snow, destructive ice and bitter cold, Weather.com reported.
Wind chills were expected to fall to 30 below zero Tuesday night into Wednesday morning in Omaha, Neb., AccuWeather.com reported.
Many Midwest cities were forecast to get more than a foot of snow, possibly 2 feet in some areas.
Chicago was forecast to get more than 18 inches by early Wednesday. Minneapolis will likely get 3 to 6 inches, but other parts of southeastern Minnesota could get 9 inches, forecasters said.
Farther south and east Tuesday, a major ice storm will likely bring down trees and power lines from St. Louis to Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio, AccuWeather.com reported.
The raging blizzard could shut down Kansas City International Airport by Tuesday afternoon and Chicago O'Hare International Airport by Tuesday night.
Temperatures will likely be warm enough from Washington, D.C., to New York City to bring mainly rain, but pounding precipitation, to those cities Wednesday.
The rain will come almost a week after the city was pummeled with 19 inches of snow. The city's sanitation department said Sunday it would begin limited trash collection Monday after four days of no pickup.
The heaviest Northeast snow is expected to be away from the Atlantic coast, from interior Pennsylvania into upstate New York and New England, Weather.com said, calling the storm "potentially historic".
Accompanying the blizzard will be a severe thunderstorm threat, with hail and damaging winds, including possible tornadoes, across the South including the Gulf States, AccuWeather.com and Weather.com said. UPI
