Midwestern states brace for winter storm to hit the region

Weekend winter snowstorm to blanket more than half of the US dumping up to a foot of snow on Missouri and Illinois

  • The storm is predicted to stretch from Washington DC to Colorado intensifying Friday evening and continuing into Sunday 
  • The National Weather Service says the storm could bring the highest snow totals in years to sections of Missouri and Illinois
  • As much as 12 inches could drop in the St. Louis area into eastern Illinois  
  • Over 20 million people are in the path of the storm the Weather Service said

The National Weather Service says a storm stretching from the nation’s capital to Colorado could bring the highest snow totals in several years to sections of Missouri and Illinois.

The storm is expected to drop 8 to 12 inches of snow in the St. Louis metropolitan area into eastern Illinois between Friday and early Sunday.

Large sections of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana are under winter weather advisories, and hazardous travel conditions are expected through most of the weekend.

The storm has been dubbed ‘Winter Storm Gia’ by The Weather Channel.

The National Weather Service says the storm could bring the highest snow totals in years to sections of Missouri and Illinois

Over 20 million people were in the path of the storm, the Weather Service said.

Sally Johnson, a meteorologist in St. Louis, says the storm has the potential to drop the most snow in five or six years. Missouri received 10.8 inches on Jan. 5-6, 2014, and 12.4 inches on March 23-24, 2013.

The University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Missouri and St. Louis University shutdown Friday afternoon, along with numerous public schools. Johnson said the heaviest amounts are expected along the Interstate 70 corridor from Columbia to St. Louis.

The storm is expected to drop 8 to 12 inches  of snow in the St. Louis metropolitan area into eastern Illinois between Friday and early Sunday

The storm is expected to drop 8 to 12 inches of snow in the St. Louis metropolitan area into eastern Illinois between Friday and early Sunday

In Indiana snow accumulations of 5 to 7 inches are expected between midnight Friday and 7 a.m. Sunday

In Indiana snow accumulations of 5 to 7 inches are expected between midnight Friday and 7 a.m. Sunday

St. Louis Lambert International Airport spokesman Jeff Lea says airlines are canceling dozens of flights through Saturday morning. Jefferson City officials also announced plans to close city offices early.

In Illinois, the weather service snow would begin in southwestern Illinois and spread northeast throughout the evening, reaching the Chicago area by Saturday morning. Snow totals are to taper to the northeast with parts of southwestern Illinois forecast to receive up to 9 inches. The Chicago area is expected to get between 1 and 4 inches and much of central Illinois was expected to receive 6 to 8 inches.

And in Indiana snow accumulations of 5 to 7 inches are expected between midnight Friday and 7 a.m. Sunday in portions of central, south central, southeastern, southwestern and west central Indiana. It says locally higher amounts of snowfall are possible.

Hazardous travel conditions are expected through most of the weekend in the affected states

Hazardous travel conditions are expected through most of the weekend in the affected states

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