CHICAGO (AP) — Large swaths of the U.S. awaited one of the season’s first blasts of wintry weather Sunday as temperatures dipped and snow fell in the Northern Plains, snowstorms developed eastward across the Great Lakes and the South prepared for a big chill.

Flurries fell Sunday morning across parts of the Chicago area, a precursor to “intense” snowfall forecast to start in the evening in communities surrounding Lake Michigan, where the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning into Monday with wind gusts of up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) and as many as 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow.

“This band is going to drop some very heavy snow and some hairy scenarios for the Monday morning commute,” said weather service meteorologist Kevin Doom in Romeoville, Illinois.

As temper

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