Early European explorers found the Plains a very hostile environment, and the area was marked on early maps as the 'great American desert'. One American explorer, Major Stephen Long, declared ...

A winter storm is set to bring snowfall from the Central Plains to the mid-Atlantic, while dangerously cold air spreads from the Great Plains to the Northeast.

A procession of winter storms is forecast to bring snow, sleet, ice and potentially flood-inducing rain to sprawling bands of the U.S. this week.