Weather experts are forecasting an unusual chill to sweep across much of the United States, ushering in the season’s first snowstorms for numerous regions.

Over the weekend, northern Midwest towns and cities experienced their first snowfall, and similar conditions are expected to reach the central Plains, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and New England as early as next week.

A massive 45-car accident occurred on Interstate 70, roughly 10 miles from Terre Haute, Indiana, attributed to the snowy conditions.

Vehicles involved in the pileup skidded across the eastbound lanes, ending up in the median, on grassy areas, and even ventured into the path of westbound traffic.

The looming storms are anticipated to disrupt both ground and air travel, leading some schools to close temporarily in affected areas.

“I believe the cold spell in the first week of December is just a prelude, with more intense weather expected by mid-December,” remarked Judah Cohen, a climatologist and research scientist at MIT, in an interview with USA Today.

He further claimed that his computer model is forecasting ‘that the most expansive region of most likely extreme cold on Earth stretches from the Canadian Plains to the US East Coast in the third week of December’.

A ‘polar vortex’, or a large, low-pressure cold air system, will remain up above Canada for the next seven to ten days, said Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue in a Substack post.

A couple walks their dog in Chicago, Illinois, on November 29, as snow blankets the city

Field crew member clears snow off the field during the game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium on Saturday

Icicles form along a pier at Chicago’s Loyola Beach. More cold weather is predicted for the coming weeks

Forecasted temperatures throughout the United States for the first day of December are shown

Determining where snow will fall and how much is a bit trickier, given that precipitation cannot be predicted more than three days in advance.

According to an AccuWeather forecast, a storm will form along a boundary where expanding cold air and warm air will have begun to meet from Monday to Tuesday night.

The storm will bring a mix of snow and sleet to Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, along with parts of West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina will likely also have to deal with ice buildup on top of snowfall.

The southern states – as far east as coastal Virginia, as far south as northern Florida and as far inland as eastern Texas – are expected to be hit with significant rainfall.

By Tuesday night, New York and New England will receive snow, with most areas getting from one to six inches.

The Catskills of New York, the Berkshires of Connecticut and Massachusetts and southeastern Maine could see a maximum of 12 inches of snow.

In cities such as New York City and Philadelphia, the snow will eventually turn to rain on Tuesday, potentially leading to slippery roads.

If a second storm blows down cold air from the Hudson Valley, New York could be in for even more snow than previously thought.

These storms in the US could bring the lowest temperatures recorded since last February.