A major, fast-moving winter storm threatened heavy snow from California to New England during the weekend, creating major travel delays and flight cancellations as it sprints along a 2,500-mile path.

Some of the hardest hit areas stretch from Colorado to southeastern Ohio. with as much as a foot of snow possible in southeastern Kansas and southern Missouri. Kansas City and St. Louis were preparing for up to a half-foot of snow.

In parts of the Midwest, the snow — falling at up to 1 or 2 inches per hour — could pile up fast enough to strand motorists along major highways, AccuWeather warns.

Sections of Pennsylvania, New York and northern and western New England could see up to a foot of snow.

Boston, which closed Saturday school programs due to the first round of snow, is bracing for another round Sunday evening.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said the city could get up to 7 inches of snow. "We are encouraging residents to use caution when traveling, assist older neighbors and those who are disabled, and keep up with the shoveling of their property throughout the storm," he said in a statement.

In the West, a winter weather advisory was issued for the entire I-25 corridor around Denver through Sunday morning, with 3 to 8 inches likely in the lower elevations, and 6 to 12 inches in the foothills around the Colorado capital.

The snow will expand into parts of the Southern Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley overnight as it rolls eastward.

By Sunday morning, some parts of the northern Plains could see wind chills nearing 55 degrees below zero. A few spots could see all-time record cold temperatures for March, the weather service predicted.

The weather service calls the cold "dangerous." In portions of Montana, this will be the coldest temperatures of the entire winter season as actual temperatures dip to 40 below. The level of cold will also be more typical of late-January than early March.

Minneapolis could see a high temperature of only 2 degrees on Sunday.

Near-freezing temperatures will then spread as far south as Florida by early next week.



