An Arctic blast is gripping large swaths of the United States, bringing bitterly cold temperatures and heavy snowfall that has blanketed parts of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and Northeastern regions, with several states declaring emergencies and the National Weather Service (NWS) warning that travel in the hardest-hit regions will be difficult or outright impossible.
“Bands of intense, very heavy lake effect snow will continue downwind of the Great Lakes through this weekend,” the NWS said in an alert issued at 3 p.m. EST on Nov. 30. “Preliminary snowfall totals show some locations have already seen over 3 feet of snow! Travel in these areas will remain very difficult to impossible.”…