AccuWeather.com

By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist

Mar 19, 2010; 4:45 AM ET

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A major snowstorm will get underway from the Colorado Rockies to the south-central Plains today through Saturday night. High winds will add to the dangers posed by the storm by blowing snow around and greatly reducing the visibility.

Significant snow will fall over an area spanning Denver, Kansas City, Madison and other major cities in the nation's midsection.

A couple of spots in the Colorado Rockies could be buried by up to 2 feet of snow as the storm becomes entrenched in much colder air. Denver will be blanketed by up to 8 inches of snow.

Another bull's-eye of heavy snow will likely target the Kansas City area and communities farther to the south as the storm picks up steam and moves east on Saturday.

Winds gusting past 30 mph will also create blowing and drifting of snow. This will add to the hazardous travel conditions.

Chicago, Des Moines and Oklahoma City will get lesser amounts of snow. Visitors and residents of these areas should still keep brushes handy to clear off cars and allow extra time to travel.

Motorists will run into slow and slippery travel along Interstates 25, 35 40, 70, 76, and 80. This includes in areas where rain will fall before a changeover to snow. In fact, roadway conditions will rapidly deteriorate as rain changes over to snow.

Airline passengers, including those flying into or out of Denver, should expect lengthy flight delays and cancellations. Ripple effect flight delays will likely occur at other airports across the nation as a result.

Temperatures will plummet behind the storm. The high in Denver will be about 40 degrees lower today than it was on Thursday. In Oklahoma City, the high will reach well into the 60s today before only climbing into the 30s on Saturday.

The gusty winds behind the storm will contribute to even colder AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures.

Meanwhile, on the southern and warmer side of the storm, some violent thunderstorms will erupt from Texas to the central Gulf Coast. Be sure to check out the latest on the storm threat in other stories on AccuWeather.com.