First major winter storm in US this year hits mid-Atlantic states By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first major winter storm of the new year hit U.S. mid-Atlantic states on Monday, forcing the closure of federal offices and public schools in Washington, D.C., after a foot of snow fell in parts of the Ohio Valley and Central Plains.

More than five inches (12.7 cm) had fallen in the nation’s capital by midday Monday, according to the US National Weather Service, with up to 12 inches in some surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia. Snow is expected to continue falling before the system heads out to sea on Monday evening.

Severe travel disruptions are expected across the storm’s path, and officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads if possible. The governors of several states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, declared states of emergency.

In the storm’s wake, frigid Arctic air was filling the void, bringing freezing rain and icy conditions to an area of ​​the country stretching from Illinois to the Atlantic coast. Unusually cold temperatures are expected to continue for the rest of the week.

The central Plains, where the storm dumped heavy snow over the weekend, were already in a deep freeze. Parts of Kansas experienced extremely cold wind chills, with values ​​ranging from minus 5 to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 to minus 32 degrees Celsius) overnight. The cold air will persist, with daytime highs only in the mid teens to lower 20s.

The National Weather Service said that the Kansas City airport recorded 28 centimeters of snowfall, the highest amount of any storm in more than 30 years. Missouri State Police said they responded Sunday to more than 1,000 stranded motorists and 356 crashes, including one fatality.

In Washington, even as the storm raged, Congress met to formally certify the election of Republican Donald Trump as president. But federal offices in the nation’s capital were closed.

In the city’s Meridian Hill Park, hundreds gathered to participate in a huge snowball fight, organized by the so-called Washington, D.C. Snowball Fight Association. The fighters, many of whom were wearing goggles for protection, fired a volley of frozen projectiles, while one of the dogs tried to catch the ammunition in its mouth.

“I didn’t come here to make friends!” Jack Pitsur, who lives across the street from the park, shouted with laughter before launching a snowball toward enemy lines.

School districts in several states were closed Monday due to the storm, including public schools in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Washington and Philadelphia.

The storm also left more than 330,000 homes and businesses in the central and southern United States without power on Monday, data from PowerOutage.us showed.

As of 1:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT), nearly 1,900 flights inside and outside the United States have been cancelled, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. Amtrak has canceled dozens of trains on the busy Northeast Corridor line between Boston and Washington.

The three airports serving the metropolitan area — Reagan National, Baltimore/Washington International and Dallas — were all open and crews were working to clear snow from the airports, but saw many flights delayed or cancelled.

Spokesmen for both agencies said that Virginia State Police responded to 300 car accidents between midnight and 11 a.m., while Maryland State Police received 123 reports of accidents between 1 a.m. and 11 a.m. A man died in southeastern Virginia after losing control of his pickup truck around midnight, local media reported, with police citing alcohol and weather as factors.