Freeze warning: What Washington DC, Maryland residents need to know about blizzards, heavy snow and freezing rain

The United States is bracing for the worst as blizzards, heavy snow and freezing rain are expected to affect several states on Sunday and Monday. Some 50 million Americans are predicted to be hit by winter weather advisories throughout the storm formed as a consequence of arctic air from Canada seeps into the United States. 

Ice accumulation on the runways forced airports to shut operations until the weather improved, Al Jazeera said, adding that people should prepare to remain warm despite power outages and travel issues. The National Weather Service (NWS) on Sunday warned of ice, snow and gale-force winds in states from the central plains to the mid-Atlantic.

According to a Weather Prediction Center warning, the effects of the snowstorm are expected to stretch more than 1,500 miles across a dozen states, from eastern Colorado to Maryland and Delaware. Several states in the path of the weather system, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, have declared states of emergency, while Maryland declared a state of preparedness, the New York Times said in a report. Some locations are expected to receive the heaviest snowfall in a decade.

Blizzards and freezing rain is likely to make roads unusable, the National Weather Service has warned. Washington, D.C. was among the regions likely to witness roads being covered with snow while four million people across Kansas and Missouri are likely to remain under a blizzard warning till Monday morning, the NY Times report said. 

Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. are expected to experience snowfall until Monday evening, US media reports said. Missouri Southern Illinois and Indiana are all repotedly predicted to receive heavy snowfall until Monday.

The storm should move past the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean by late on Monday, but a new blast of Arctic air will bring frigid cold to the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. by the middle of next week.