This week, a massive storm spreading across the US West into the Northern Plains and Midwest could produce blizzards, extreme cold, and record snowfall, making road travel treacherous and disrupting flights.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm, blizzard, and high-wind advisories for a broad part of the western and north-central US.
Up to 61cm of snow and winds of up to 97kph were expected in some spots from Tuesday until Thursday.
Snow falling at a rate of 5cm an hour and gusty winds will make travel conditions treacherous and perhaps impossible in parts of the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest, the forecaster said.
"Snowplough crews will be out working statewide but this storm could be a doozy," the Minnesota Department of Transport said in a tweet.
Minneapolis, a city of 425,000 people, could have as much as 50cm of snow. The state's Department of Natural Resources said that would be the most for a February snowstorm and one of the top five heaviest falls of all time in a city already renowned for its brutal winters.
While much of the US will deal with cold, snowy weather over the next several days, parts of the South may have record-high temperatures this week.
Some spots in the South may have temperatures that are more than 100ºF warmer than some places in the Northern Plains, the forecast showed.
The service said Orlando could hit a record high of 32ºC, while the temperature is expected to drop to minus 27ºC in Billings, Montana.
Starting on Wednesday, the storm will move into the Upper Midwest with "some of the greatest impacts in Minnesota and Wisconsin," said Frank Pereira, a forecaster with the NWS Prediction Centre in College Park, Maryland.
Late on Wednesday to Thursday, the storm will bring heavy snow and freezing rain to New England. New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine could get 30cm Eira said.
The lingering storm could also dump snow across California.
Nearly all of the state's 39 million residents will see either snow falling or on the tops of nearby mountains this week, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said.
The growing frequency and intensity of such storms, interspersed with extreme heat and dry spells, are symptoms of climate change, experts say.
A huge winter storm is about to plague the U.S., even as some areas see record highs
The term forecasters are using to describe the overall weather pattern is "anomalous" — for its unusual cold and warmth. In California, it could be the coldest storm in years. Only a narrow band of the continental U.S. is expected to stay within historical temperature norms this week, according to the National Weather Service's "Mean Max Temp Anomaly Forecast" map. NOAA hide caption