A powerful, coast-to-coast storm threatens heavy snow and high winds today, putting parts of more than two dozen states under winter weather alerts as travel conditions began to deteriorate in some areas. Via CNN:

More than 65 million people across 29 states from as far west as California to Minnesota through Maine are under winter weather alerts that warn of severe icing, extreme cold and sleet that are likely to make travel miserable Wednesday and knock out power to some.

The Upper Midwest is expected to bear the brunt of the storm in terms of snowfall totals, with Minnesota’s Minneapolis area likely getting more than 20 inches Wednesday and more than 2 feet total over the multi-day storm – potentially the most in 30 years.

The “historic” three-day storm “will bring widespread accumulating snow, with blowing and drifting snow mainly Wednesday through Thursday,” the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities said.