Clipper Storm to Hit Northern US with High Winds, Snow

A powerful clipper storm system is poised to sweep across the northern United States starting Thursday, delivering gusts up to hurricane force and widespread snowfall from the Northern Rockies to the Great Lakes and New England. The event, following days of unseasonably warm weather, will affect millions in states including Montana, Idaho, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Michigan and New York, with a second, more intense storm following over the weekend.

Forecasters expect the first system to develop Thursday out of the northwest, rapidly intensifying as it moves east along the border between cooler northern air and colder Arctic air massing over Canada. High wind warnings and advisories are already in place across the Rockies, Plains and Midwest, where gusts could reach 60 to 80 miles per hour in a broad area stretching from Idaho and Montana through Indiana, Ohio and southern Michigan. In the most exposed spots, such as northern Idaho, northwestern Montana and the Colorado Rockies, winds may hit 115 miles per hour, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Matt Benz. These conditions raise risks of downed power lines, toppled trees and overturned vehicles, with flying debris from...