Late winter storm: 6 states under blizzard warnings

April 10 (UPI) -- Parts of six states in the Plains and upper Midwest have issued blizzard warnings as a second bomb cyclone in under a month dumps snow on the region, affecting millions of people

Blizzard warnings have been issued for over 700 miles, spanning much of eastern Colorado, central and westerner Nebraska, most of South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota with snow forecasts anywhere between six and 30 inches, the Weather Channel reported.

Ice storm warnings have also been issued for southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa.

The central Rockies, the northern Plains and parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin have already been impacted by the storm with portions of the interstate closed in Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota.

More closures are expected as the blizzard advances.

Effects of the blizzard were far-reaching Wednesday, with 80 mph winds felt in the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico.

In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis encouraged the public to avoid travel unless necessary, the storm negatively impacted road conditions.

He also activated the National Guard to help authorities in case of rescue operations, the service said in a tweet.

In South Dakota, No Travel Advisories veined much of the state Wednesday night, with South Dakota Public Safety warning residents to "think REALLY hard about whether you need to travel."

Gov. Kristi Noem ordered closure of state government office in 54 counties Thursday and urged people to stay home.

In Minnesota, the Twin Cities National Weather Service warned that the storm could be "historic," bringing a variety of precipitation, wind gusts exceeding 50 mph and "very heavy snow totals."

Western and central Minnesota were being told to expect heavy snow accumulation and the storm was expected to last from late Wednesday to early Friday while by 5:30 p.m there had been 213 crashes state wide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned this week the storm could produce a bomb cyclone, classified as a condition in which atmospheric pressure drops 24 millibars in a 24-hour period. Some of the areas facing snow Wednesday were just hit by a bomb cyclone last month, which created major floods and killed several people.

"This isn't going to be a one-and-done thing," National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Dergan said. "We're going to have to deal with snow melt and water filtering through the Missouri River system for the next month or so."

"The snow will expand into the upper Great Lakes overnight Wednesday," the National Weather Service said. "As the storm moves out of the Plains, showers and thunderstorms will develop along and ahead of the associated front overnight Thursday into Friday over parts of the Ohio Valley into parts of the Tennessee/Lower Mississippi valleys."

Forecasters said the storm will spread through the central and northern Plains and upper Midwest, producing up to 2 feet of snow by Thursday evening.