‘Triple-threat megastorm’ to scatter snow, high winds and thunder across US

Powerful storm chain to affect 200 million in US as it carries blizzard conditions, damaging winds and thunderstorms

Winter's grip has yet to release as an erratic patchwork of severe weather moved across much of the US, dumping heavy snow and making roads impassable in the upper midwest while damaging high winds swept across the Plains.

As portions of the mid-south readied for thunderstorms, forecasters said the storms will spread eastward and by Monday threaten a large swath of the eastern US, with mid-Atlantic states and Washington DC at greatest risk for high winds and tornadoes.