Winter storm creates dangerous travel conditions

The first great winter The 2025 storm is battering parts of the US with blizzard conditions and freezing rain, creating dangerous travel conditions.

National Weather Service (NWS) officials are urging drivers in certain areas to avoid traveling unless essential, after a winter storm already hit a large swath of the country.

A vehicle drives cautiously on a snowy road on January 5, 2025 in Shawnee, Kansas. (Chase Castor/Getty Images/Getty Images)

On Sunday night, the National Weather Service (NWS) office covering the Baltimore and Washington DC areas posted on X that it is “strongly recommended” to postpone travel if it is not essential.

“Conditions will deteriorate rapidly tonight and untreated and unplowed roads will become impassable. During times of heaviest snow, between midnight and mid-morning on Monday, even primary and treated roads will be impassable. It is strongly recommended postpone non-essential travel,” he added. NWS wrote.

SNOW STORM CANCELS MORE THAN 1,000 FLIGHTS AND DELAYS HUNDREDS OF OTHERS ACROSS US

The bureau forecasts “periods of heavy snow” to continue Monday morning with some sleet and Freezing rain starting to mix.

Another snowfall is expected to hit the area Monday night.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Transportation Authority posted Monday morning that if travel is essential, drivers should be sure not to speed or pass any snowplows or salt trucks. They also need to keep their lights on, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.

DEADLY WINTER STORM CAUSES SNOW EMERGENCY IN WASHINGTON DC AS HEAVY SNOW AND CRAZYING ICE IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC

The NWS Pennsylvania office projected that light to moderate snow would continue Monday morning, followed by “another round of steady snow” expected to hit the southern part of the state Monday night.

The office warned that if people have to travel they should plan additional time to reach their destination.

The NWS office in Virginia also warned that the combination of snow, sleet and freezing rain will continue to “affect travel throughout the region, resulting in hazardous conditions,” especially throughout the Piedmont, a plateau region located in the east. of the United States, in central Virginia. and the eastern coast.

While the NWS office in New York warned that the area will experience an “extended period of cold weather,” it will not receive the brunt of the storm.

Firefighters with the Louisville Fire Department’s Fifth 9 shovel snow in front of their station on Jan. 5, 2025, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Luke Sharrett/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The bureau projected there will be light snow in the area on Monday, but “less than an inch of accumulation is expected, and some will only see dust or no snow at all.”

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The storm initially began on the west coast, where it generated First tornado of the year in California.

It moved into the Plains and Midwest over the weekend, creating blizzard conditions at Kansas City International Airport. Sleet and freezing rain also caused accidents across the region, from Kansas and Missouri to the Ohio Valley.

FOX Weather contributed to this report.