Storm packing heavy ice, snow bears down on central U.S

(Reuters) -A major winter storm is expected to wallop much of the central United States and stretch to parts of the Northeast this week, bringing heaving snow, freezing rain and ice, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The system, which will last through Thursday in certain parts of the region, could to dump 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) of snow over portions of the southern Rockies and central Plains, with record snowfall possible in the Midwest as well.

"While typical in terms of the time of year that you might expect something like this, potentially atypical in terms of some of the snowfall amounts we may see in parts of the Midwest," said Greg Carbin, the forecast operations branch chief for the NWS's Weather Prediction Center.

Snow could blanket Detroit in amounts not seen in years, Carbin added, while icy roads and bridges threatened to make travel "nearly impossible" and trigger power outages in hard-hit areas.

A "corridor of heavy ice accumulation" will stretch from the Ohio River Valley down to Texas, according to the forecast.

Winter weather advisories, storm watches and warnings were in effect in much of the areas expected to be affected by the storm.

Extremely cold air caused by Arctic high pressure that is forecast to descend over the Plains on Wednesday will send temperatures plummeting 10 to 15 degrees below average in some areas, the NWS added.

The storm threatening the central United States comes days after fierce winter weather engulfed the northeastern part of the country, dropping more than 2 feet (60 cm) of snow on some areas while packing high winds, prompting thousands of flight cancellations and curtailing access to the roads in some states.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New YorkEditing by Alistair Bell and Matthew Lewis)