Travel advisory issued for parts of Minnesota as whiteout conditions focus on the Upper Midwest

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has issued a “no travel advisory” for highways in northwestern Minnesota as high winds create dangerous snow drifts and low visibility.

Drivers in Minnesota and North Dakota should be prepared for intense bursts of heavy snow, wind gusts over 60 mph and visibility of less than a quarter mile.

The cold front will pass through the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in the afternoon and reach Chicago by evening.

The cold front will move towards the east coast early Thursday morning.

The heaviest snow from this fast-moving clipper system will be near the Great Lakes, where the blast of cold air will create heavy lake-effect snow bands.

One to two inches of snow is possible from Michigan to New York State.

The clipper system will also bring 3 to 10 inches of snow from Massachusetts to Maine.

Up to 10 inches of snow is possible in the Appalachians in Maryland and West Virginia.

The Interstate 95 corridor – including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City – is not expecting any snow accumulation. But those large cities must be prepared for wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour.