Nation : Major Storm Bores In on East Coast

A major winter storm blew out of the Midwest today and zeroed in on rush-hour traffic along the populous East Coast from Washington, D.C., to New York City. Forecasters said 2 to 6 inches of snow would fall by tonight from the nation’s capital to the concrete canyons of New York.

The storm gathered strength over Wisconsin in the morning, drawing moisture from the Great Lakes and spreading snow from northern Indiana across Michigan and into Ohio and western Pennsylvania by early afternoon. Winds gusted to 50 m.p.h. in Minnesota along a cold front that trailed the storm. Temperatures ranged from the 20s ahead of the cold front to below zero behind it, the National Weather Service said.