"A tremendously impactful winter storm will continue to affect large portions of the nation late this week and going into the holiday weekend," said the NWS Weather Prediction Center on Thursday evening.
The "powerful arctic" front has brought huge temperature drops across the Greater Plains of the United States over the past 24 hours. It is forecast to produce areas of heavy snow, strong winds, and life-threatening wind chills through Saturday.
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Meteorologists say the winter storm could intensify into a "bomb cyclone," which occurs when atmospheric pressure drops rapidly at the center of the cyclone.
Severe weather conditions have upended travels in many parts of the United States ahead of Christmas, which falls on Sunday.
"We have not just a large portion of the country affected by these winter storms, but that includes some of the key hubs for many of our airlines," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday.
According to the flight-tracking site FlightAware, airlines have canceled more than 2,300 flights within, into, or out of the United States as of early Thursday evening.