MISSION, Kan. >> Road conditions were deteriorating Saturday in the central U.S. as a winter storm brought a mix of snow, ice and plunging temperatures, with forecasts calling for the dreaded combo to spread eastward in the coming days.

“Winter returned,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually stays penned up around the North Pole, spinning like a top. But sometimes it escapes or stretches down to the U.S., Europe or Asia — and that’s when large numbers of people experience intense doses of cold.

Studies show a fast-warming Arctic gets some of the blame for the increase in polar vortex stretching or wandering.

By Saturday evening, widespread heavy snow was likely between central Kansas and Indiana, where there was a high chance of at least 8 inches of snow. Part of the interstate was closed in central Kansas by the afternoon.

The storm was forecast to move into the Ohio Valley, with severe travel disruptions expected. It will reach the Mid-Atlantic states today into Monday, with a hard freeze even expected as far south as Florida.

Severe thunderstorms, with the possibility of tornadoes and hail, also were possible ahead of the storm system’s cold front as it crosses the Lower Mississippi Valley, the National Weather Service warned.

A fire truck, several tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles overturned west of Salina, Kansas. Rigs also jackknifed and went into ditches, state Highway Patrol Trooper Ben Gardner said.

He posted a video showing his boots sliding across the highway blacktop like an ice-skating rink.

“We are in it now,” Gardner said as he drove to the scene of an accident.

Online, he begged for prayers and warned that some roadways were nearly impassable.

Freezing rain in Wichita, Kansas, sent authorities to multiple crashes in the morning, and police urged drivers to stay home if possible and watch out for emergency vehicles.

Governors in neighboring Missouri and nearby Arkansas declared states of emergency. Whiteout conditions threatened to make driving dangerous to impossible, forecasters warned, and heighten the risk of becoming stranded.

Air travel also was snarled.

The Kansas City International Airport temporarily halted flight operations in the afternoon due to ice. Dozens of flights were delayed, including a charter jet transporting the Kansas City Chiefs, before the runways reopened.

“Work will continue overnight to keep the airfield clear,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a message on the social platform X.

Stores in Wichita were filled with shoppers stocking up on groceries in advance of the storm and warming centers opened in churches and libraries.

Several businesses closed across the Kansas City area, and the school district in suburban Independence, Missouri, said it might need to cancel classes for one or more days.

“Get where you’re going now & stay put. If you must travel, consider packing a bag & staying where you’re headed,” the Missouri Department of Transportation said in a message on X.

Starting Monday the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills, forecasters said.