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A dangerously frigid arctic air mass gripped a vast expanse of the United States on Thursday as a looming winter storm of historic proportions threatened to upend travel plans for millions of Americans.
The cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour and howling winds gusting to 60 mph (97 kph) from the Upper Midwest to the interior Northeast, producing blizzard conditions and near-zero visibility, the weather service said. Combined with the arctic cold, wind-chill factors as low as 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) were forecast in the High Plains, the northern Rockies and Great Basin, the NWS said.
The cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour and howling winds gusting to 60 mph (97 kph) from the Upper Midwest to the interior Northeast, producing blizzard conditions and near-zero visibility, the weather service said. Combined with the arctic cold, wind-chill factors as low as 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) were forecast in the High Plains, the northern Rockies and Great Basin, the NWS said.