Doyle Rice

USA TODAY

The same storm that lashed Southern California on Sunday will race into the Rockies and central U.S. on Monday and Tuesday, bringing blizzard conditions and major travel disruptions.

Parts of Arizona, northern New Mexico, Utah and Colorado to portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, northern Michigan and southern Minnesota could see a foot of snow, with some areas getting up to 18 inches, AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rathbun said.

The winter storm will arrive in parts of Iowa during Monday evening, as the state's caucuses for the 2016 presidential election get underway.

The storm will put down snow along a 1,600-mile swath from Arizona to Michigan, likely leading to widespread shutdowns of major highways and airport closures in Denver and Minneapolis.

Blizzard snarls Denver flights, aims at Midwest

Besides the heavy snow, wind gusts exceeding 40 mph will cause near zero visibility and significant drifting of snow along the Interstate 35 and 80 corridors south of the Twin Cities to just north of Kansas City, Mo., according to WeatherBug meteorologist Andrew Rosenthal.

The Weather Channel is calling the weather system Winter Storm Kayla.

Further south, on the warm side of the system, areas from southern Illinois and Indiana to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could experience severe storms and tornadoes, according to AccuWeather.

Cities such as Memphis, Nashville and Louisville are at greatest risk for severe weather Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Storm Prediction Center said.

The center has placed western Tennessee, western Kentucky and northern Alabama under an "enhanced" risk area for severe weather, which is the third level of risk on the 1-5 risk scale.

On Sunday, the storm barreled into Southern California, knocking out power to thousands in San Diego and killing at least one person. Whitaker Peak, Calif., recorded a 115 mph wind gust and the hills above Malibu felt an 87-mph gust, the Weather Channel reported.

Powerful storm hits Southern Calif., knocks out power to thousands; 1 dead