Major winter storm expected to hit Great Plains, eastern states

Traffic on Interstate 465 moves slowly northbound around Indianapolis, after an overnight snowstorm dumped 10 inches of snow in the Indianapolis metropolitan area in the central part of the state of Indiana, in this December 23, 2004 file photo.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A massive storm system bringing heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain could potentially impact 100 million people as it slams the Rockies, Plains, and Midwest regions early this week before traveling to the eastern seaboard Wednesday, according to forecasts on Sunday.

Freezing rain is expected to develop Sunday night and continue through Monday, producing a light grazing of ice that could lead to dangerous travel conditions in the central states, the National Weather Service said, but the primary storm system will hit early Tuesday and continue through Tuesday night.

The storm's "stripe of snow" will move eastward across the central plains and into the Ohio Valley and touch parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to a mapped forecast of the storm's February 1 movements on Weather.com.

"This storm will produce significant impacts across a large portion of the central United States," the National Weather Service said, and some areas could experience snowfall of more than six inches, according to Weather.com

Then, after slamming the Plains and Midwest, the storm will move into the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and New England regions early Wednesday morning, Groundhog Day, with conditions improving early Thursday.

The heaviest snow is expected across the interior northeast from Pennsylvania into upstate New York and New England, according to mid-week forecasts on Weather.com.

As the storm builds on Monday, though, the band of heaviest snowfall is expected in parts of southwest and northeast Missouri, including central sections of the state, which will receive between six inches and a foot of snowfall and winds between 20 and 30 m.p.h., according to the National Weather service.

(Reporting by Eric Johnson; Editing by Jerry Norton)