Several states are bracing for severe winter weather this weekend as forecasters from the NWS issue warnings for snow and ice.

Snow covers the ground in Evanston, Ill., a suburb of Chicago on Nov. 10. (Kiichiro Sato/AP) Winter is still 40 days away — but more than half the country, from the Upper Plains to the Gulf Coast, is already getting a brisk sneak peek early this week with potentially historic lake effect snowfalls and record low temperatures fueled by a huge mass of Arctic air.

Winter weather warnings have been issued Monday in parts of Michigan as a frigid air mass ushers cold and snow into the state, the National Weather Service said.

Nine states across the U.S. have been issued with winter weather warnings by the National Weather Service (NWS), with some expected to see up to 18 inches of snowfall from Sunday through to Tuesday morning.

Yosemite is under a winter storm warning which was issued by the National Weather Service on Tuesday at 11:33 a.m. The warning is valid from Thursday 1 a.m. until Friday Nov. 14, at 4 a.m.

A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for Northwest Indiana and the northern suburbs while much of the Chicago area has been downgraded to a Winter Weather Advisory.

A winter weather advisory is in effect for northern Erie County and a lake-effect snow warning is in place in southern Erie County.

A gale warning alert means there are high sustained winds or frequent gusts over a body of water, so they're reserved for communities near oceans, sounds or lakes.