Airports in England reopened Sunday after heavy snow across large parts of England forced runway closures.
Airports in northwestern Manchester and Liverpool, central Birmingham and western Bristol reopened following earlier flight suspensions.
But northern Leeds Bradford airport said its runway would be closed until further notice.
Airport chiefs warned of delays due to planes being out of place.
The Met Office said Bingley had seen 12 centimetres (4.7 inches) of snow overnight in northern England.
Higher ground in Wales and northern England was forecast to see up to 30 cm of snow.
Some rural communities above 300 metres (1,000 feet) could be cut off with up to 40 cm of snow, the Met Office said.
The snow left some key roads in northern England closed with the rail line between northern Leeds and Halifax closed suspended due to the weather conditions.
The National Grid said it was working to restore power after outages in central and southwest England and south Wales.
Major winter storm begins dumping snow, disrupting travel in US
Blizzard and winter storm conditions blasted the Midwest early Sunday, as a massive weather system began tracking eastward across the United States, with authorities warning of some of the heaviest snowfalls in a decade and severe impact on transport.
Snowfalls of 15 inches (38 centimeters) or more in some areas "will make travel extremely hazardous, with impassable roads," the National Weather Service (NWS) said in an update early Sunday.
That, combined with accumulations of up to a half-inch of ice in some areas -- as well as widespread tree damage from powerful wind gusts -- could lead to "prolonged power outages."
The first major storm of 2025 is already disrupting travel. Video posted by the Weather Channel showed cars skidding off ice-coated highways in Kansas and tractor trailers jack-knifing dangerously.
The NWS issued blizzard warnings in Kansas and Missouri, with a belt of winter storm and ice storm warnings stretching all the way to the US capital on the East Coast, putting an unusually broad 1,500-mile (2,400-kilometer) swath under immediate threat. American Airlines posted a travel advisory covering 46 airports from Kansas to New Jersey
A mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow began hitting Kansas early Sunday morning. Storm chaser Brian Emfinger said on X that roads around Kansas City were "a skating rink."
But the latest forecast from the NWS suggested the worst was yet to come, with "blizzard conditions" and winds up to 50 mph (80 kmh) expected in the state.
'We cannot delay'
As the storm accumulates through Monday, "the snow will significantly reduce visibilities," the NWS said.
A band of eight to 14 inches of snow is expected to be dumped from northeast Missouri through the Central Appalachians, it said.
Areas around Washington could see up to 10 inches overnight Sunday into Monday, making "hazardous travel and closings" likely, the Washington Post reported.
That could complicate the task of US lawmakers, who by constitutional mandate must meet on Capitol Hill on January 6 to certify the winner of last year's presidential election.
"Whether we're in a blizzard or not," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Fox News Sunday, "we cannot delay that certification... I hope we have full attendance."
A joint session is to convene at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT).
Travel disruptions
Nationwide, nearly 70 million people are under some sort of weather alert, according to broadcaster CNN.
With the jet stream diving southward, temperatures are expected to plunge, in some places to below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius), while strong wind gusts compound the dangers.
The mercury could sink tens of degrees below seasonal norms down to the US Gulf Coast. Before then, severe thunderstorms are expected across the lower Mississippi Valley, the NWS forecast.
Another major concern is freezing rain and sleet. A thick coating of ice could make travel hazardous, bring down trees and topple electricity lines.
The NWS predicted up to 0.5 inches of freezing rain over parts of the Middle Mississippi/Ohio Valley, and warned that "long-lasting power outages" could leave millions of customers without power from Kansas to the central Appalachian Mountains.
Conditions could prove especially perilous in Appalachia, where a deadly hurricane in late September devastated communities and ravaged multiple southeastern states including Kentucky.
The new storm "will likely cause significant disruption and dangerous conditions on our roads and could cause significant power outages just 24 hours or so before it's going to get really cold in Kentucky," Governor Andy Beshear told an emergency meeting.
The governors of Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia have declared a state of emergency in their states, and have taken to social media to warn residents to stay at home.