By Brendan O’Brien

CHICAGO, (Reuters) – A strong winter storm was pounding the east half of the United States, bringing a range of weather hazards to the region, including heavy snowfall, severe thunderstorms, and isolated tornadoes.

From Thursday evening to Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS), issued watches and warnings for the large area of the country that stretches 1,500 miles (2.400 km).

According to the NWS, this system would dump snow quickly in an area from Oklahoma up to Michigan into the Northeast and threaten Mississippi and Tennessee through Ohio into the Northeast.

Matt Beitscher is the NWS meteorologist and is based out of St. Louis. The road conditions in our region are quite treacherous.

The weather service stated that snowfall greater than 2 inches (5cm) an hour or winds exceeding 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) can severely impact visibility on roads.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was the last to cancel 200 flights, while Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport saw 270 cancellations. Flightaware.com stated that there were approximately 1000 flights canceled across the United States Thursday.

Storms could also cause severe thunderstorms to occur in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, where they can produce large hail and damaging winds.

This region was likely to see rainfall of as much as 2 inches, and possibly more locally, which could lead to flash flooding.

Strong southerly winds of 50 mph were also forecast, which could cause power line downs and dangerous travel conditions in the South as well as the Ohio Valley. The weather service stated that gusts could exceed 65 mph in areas of New England and southern New England Thursday night.