Feb. 9 (UPI) — Two winter storms are bearing down on the northern United States as millions of Americans are digging out from the last round of snow and ice, which snarled traffic in the air and on the ground. Four people are dead. At least 230 airline flights were canceled in the Northeast as of early Sunday, as airports were crippled by snow and ice late in the week. Rain and drizzle continued to fall across some parts of the region.
At least 15 million people in parts of the United States remain under winter weather alerts. Forecasters predicted as much as 8 inches of snow in Boston and up to a foot in northern Massachusetts.
As this weather event winds down, the first of the next series of winter storms will begin in the Plains states Monday, dumping heavy snow on parts of the North and sleet and rain further south. And 2 and 5 inches of snow could accumulate in Kansas, NBC News reported.
The front will move East into the Appalachian and mid-Atlantic regions on Tuesday, also touching parts of the Northeast. Virginia, D.C., Maryland and Delaware could see 3 to 6 inches of snow, ABC News reported.
The second storm will follow Wednesday on the heels of the first, dropping more rain and snow on the Plains and Midwest states before moving into the Northeast Wednesday night into Thursday.
The storms will be accompanied by a blast or Arctic air, driving temperatures into the deep freeze, according to the NOAA. High temperatures will be 10 to 40 degrees below normal in some places.
In Montana and the Dakotas, temperatures will struggle to reach above zero and wind chills could plunge to 40 degrees below. Billings, MT, Seattle and Portland are just a few of the cities that could see record lows.
“If you’re hoping for a substantial warmup soon, you’ll be waiting for a bit longer,” National Weather Service forecasters in Bismarck, N.D. wrote on X. “Arctic air will keep temperatures very cold through this week, and below normal temperatures are favored to continue through the third week of February.”