Blizzard conditions snarl holiday travel as tornadoes leave damage in the Midwest

(CNN) — More than 30 million people are under winter weather alerts across the Midwest and Northeast early this week with another storm threatening to upend travelers’ plans on what is expected to be one of the busiest travel days this holiday season.

At least 2 million people are under blizzard warnings in the Midwest, where winds could gust from 40 to 60 mph. Those wind gusts could blow heavy snow around, reducing visibility to less than a quarter of a mile in many warning areas.

More than 9,000 flights within, into or out of the US are delayed Sunday, with more than 700 cancellations, according to FlightAware.

A ground stop was issued at Chicago O’Hare International Airport Sunday evening due to thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A long stretch of I-35 is closed from Ames, Iowa, up through the Minnesota border, and I-35 in Minnesota is listed as “Travel Not Advised,” according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

As of late Sunday evening, more than 115,000 customers were without power across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions, according to poweroutage.com. Michigan had the largest number of outages, making up nearly half of that number.

New England will see rain and freezing rain late Sunday into Monday, but the Ohio Valley and I-95 corridor will see mostly rain.

And in the central and southern US, temperatures will go from 20 to 30 degrees above average this weekend to 10 to 15 degrees below average on Monday and Tuesday. The threat of storms as well as damaging winds and possible tornadoes in the South also increased Sunday afternoon.

The worst conditions will be Sunday afternoon through the overnight hours across the Midwest. The National Weather Service office in Des Moines, Iowa, “discouraged” those traveling Sunday into Monday.

“Dangerous travel is expected for much of the next 24 hours! Blowing snow will lead to whiteout conditions over northern Iowa Sunday and Sunday night,” the Weather Service said in a post on X. “Travel in this area is discouraged!”

Additionally, a tornado watch was issued for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri until 8 p.m. CT Sunday, according to the Weather Service.

Parts of Tazewell County in Illinois suffered significant damage to property, trees and power lines as strong thunderstorms, including a tornado, rolled through Sunday afternoon, according to Tazewell County Emergency Management.

Mount Zion, a town in Macon County, Illinois, also saw tornado damage Sunday afternoon. “We’ve got damage all over the place,” said a person who answered the phone at the Macon County Sheriff’s Department.

Video from a storm chaser obtained by CNN shows people running along the shoulder of a road toward first responders while debris is strewn about.

The line of strong storms has developed along an intense cold front that is sweeping across the central US, which stretched from the Great Lakes down to the Ozarks on Sunday afternoon.

The storms are being fueled by a drastic clash of warm and cold air as the cold front replaces the spring-like warmth that has covered much of the southern and central US since well before Christmas.

Temperatures behind the cold front and the associated storms are crashing quickly. Springfield, Illinois, saw temperatures drop from the 70s to the 40s in only two hours Sunday afternoon.

The storms are expected to lose their intensity quickly after dark as they push across Indiana, but the threat of damaging winds or an isolated tornado will persist across the lower Ohio Valley until 11 p.m. ET.

More than 109 million people are expected to travel via car for end of the year trips, according to AAA – an increase of 2% compared to last year, according to the organization.

Sunday’s weather is just the latest in what’s already been a tough travel weekend for those in the northeast.

Portions of the northeast will see a mix of rain and freezing rain Sunday which could lead to ice accumulations of up to a tenth of an inch – in places that have already received snow.

Just over four inches of snow fell in New York’s Central Park Saturday, the city’s most snow since January 2022, about half of the amount the National Weather Service predicted ahead of the storm.

Waiting at LaGuardia Airport Saturday, Felicia Reich said her flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was delayed by one hour.

“I was expecting it, but I was prepared,” she said, bundled up in a heavy coat and orange and yellow knit hat.

At one point on Saturday, more than 30,000 homes and businesses were without power in Michigan, according to poweroutage.us.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Allison Chinchar and Brandon Miller contributed to this report.