A fast-moving snowstorm that brought strong winds and heavy snow to the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes is creating treacherous conditions for travelers across the region.

O’Hare International Airport in Chicago imposed a ground stop Friday due to snow and ice.

According to Fox Weather, “hundreds” of vehicle accidents were reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin, with up to 11 inches of snow falling.

Millions of people in 10 states from Minnesota to West Virginia were under winter storm watches, watches or warnings Friday morning.

The same so-called Clipper system was expected to weaken as it approached the Appalachians. Still, 3 to 6 inches of snow is possible in some areas of West Virginia, western New York and northern New England.

Arctic explosion on the east coast

Meanwhile, an Arctic blast will cause temperatures to plummet along the East Coast this weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, the Arctic air mass is expected to “reduce daytime maximum temperatures to as much as 15 to 20 degrees below normal” in parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Saturday and Sunday.

Combined with the winds from the Clipper system, some parts of New England will experience wind chills in the single digits.

Warming up on the way to Christmas

However, the cold snap will be relatively short-lived.

Above-average temperatures are expected to spread across much of the country by mid to late next week, according to the long-range forecast from the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

And other than heavy rain and some snow in the Pacific Northwest, no major weather threats are forecast through December 24th.

Record number of holiday travelers expected

That’s good news for the record number of Americans expected to travel during the year-end holiday season.

AAA expects 119.3 million people to travel 50 miles or more from Saturday, December 21 to Wednesday, January 1 – surpassing the previous high set in 2019.

And AAA expects three million additional travelers this holiday season compared to last year.

“With Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday this year, we expect record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement.