The number of counties and states under winter storm watches Thursday morning is stunning. I do not recall seeing a winter storm footprint this massive since the 1993 “Storm of the Century,” and many of the counties in the Mid-Atlantic region had not yet been included at the time of publication. They will be, however, in the coming hours. Here are three surprising facts about this massive weekend winter storm.

This is one of the most widespread and significant winter storms that weather expert Jason Furtado has seen in some time, the meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma told NPR. At Weather.com, Rob Shackelford and Jonathan Erdman noted that the storm could affect 33 states and 180 million people. That’s roughly half the entire U.S. population, y’all.

By comparison, the 1993 Storm of the Century caused $2 billion in........

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