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(CNN) --
A severe winter storm is expected to affect a large swath of the United States, bringing snow to the Midwest on Thursday before forming into a bomb cyclone on its way east over the weekend.
About 11 million people were under winter weather advisories Thursday, stretching from western Illinois to parts of Utah and Arizona.
"There is increasing confidence that a significant winter storm will develop by late Friday across the Southeast and then extend heavy snow across the interior of the eastern United States into Saturday," the National Weather Service said in a tweet on Wednesday. .
Here's the latest snowfall forecast.
Snow should begin overnight across NW MO/eastern KS and spread eastward through the morning hours.
Snow comes to an end from northwest to southeast late Thursday night into Friday morning.
Expect very hazardous travel conditions tomorrow!
pic.twitter.com/5YzP8Yd2qP
— NWS Kansas City (@NWSKansasCity) March 9, 2022
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"Significant impacts due to heavy snow rates and accumulations are possible from the Tennessee Valley through the central Appalachians and into much of the interior Northeast."
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In the Midwest, snow was expected to begin falling overnight Wednesday through Thursday in northwestern Missouri and eastern Kansas, the National Weather Service in Kansas City said in a tweet.
Up to 8 inches of snow is expected in Kansas City, where conditions will likely peak between 5 a.m. and 3 p.m., according to CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford.
Meanwhile, Columbia, Missouri, can expect to see up to 4 inches of snow, he said.
The NWS in Kansas City warned that due to snowy weather, the commute to work this Thursday will be difficult.
In anticipation of those conditions, schools in Kansas City, Missouri, announced they would close Thursday.
What is a bomb cyclone like the one affecting California?
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Parts of Nebraska and Flagstaff, Arizona, could see up to 3 inches of snow, Shackelford said.
The storm is also expected to bring heavy rain and possible thunderstorms to southern areas, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Alabama, and Charleston, South Carolina, as it moves through Friday night into Saturday morning.
A winter mix and snow will come into play in some areas as temperatures drop well below average.
Forecasts show that parts of Alabama and Mississippi could see snow, while some flakes could also mix with rain from Louisiana.
The storm moves to the northeast: what to expect for the weekend
As the storm moves east, it is expected to strengthen into a bomb cyclone.
A bomb cyclone occurs when a mid-latitude cyclone decreases its pressure by 24 millibars in less than 24 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
These strong storms carry many dangers, but the most notable may be extreme winds.
High winds and snow are expected in the northeast as the cyclone reaches hurricane strength off the Atlantic coast.
What is a bomb cyclone?
Concerns in the inland areas of the Northeast include blizzard-like conditions and widespread wind damage.
"All model orientations have a rapidly intensifying surface wave (the storm) as it travels somewhere between the I-95 corridor to Cape Cod, and then along or just off the coast of Maine as a sub 970 mb low," the National Weather Service in Boston said.
A low of 970 millibars would be equivalent to a category 2 hurricane.
CNN's Caitlin Kaiser and Jennifer Gray contributed to this report.
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