Severe nationwide snowstorm affecting up to 60 million people

A ferocious coast-to coast winter storm brought heavy snow, fierce winds and freezing rain Wednesday, causing travel nightmares and putting nearly 60 million Americans under winter weather alerts.

Frightening footage in Wyoming shows a highway patrol trooper almost getting mowed down by a semi-tractor and trailer after it ran off the snow-caked Interstate 80.

A blizzard warning is in effect for parts of the Cowboy State, with the National Weather Service (NWS) warning of up to 9 inches of snow wind gusts up to 70 mph.

Virtually every road was affected by the wild weather in Wyoming.

“A major winter storm and multi-day closures are likely on Interstates and secondary roads throughout Wyoming!” the state Transportation Department said on Facebook.

The northern Plains and upper Midwest will be the hardest hit by the wild winter weather.

“Today’s going to be the peak day of [the storm] — it’s bringing widespread areas of snow to portions of the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, particularly one place that’s getting hit very hard is Minneapolis — that’s where a lot of the flight delays and cancellations are this morning,” Fox Weather producer and meteorologist Brian Mastro told The Post.

Up to two feet of snow may pound The Twin Cities, Mastro warned.

“We are bracing for what is likely to be one of the largest snowstorms in Minnesota history,” St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said at a news conference Wednesday.

Wisconsin may also see more than 20 inches of snow, the NWS predicted.

Nearly 60 million Americans from the West Coast to the East Coast were under winter weather alerts Wednesday, Fox Weather said.

Temperatures across the northern Plains and upper Midwest will plummet as much as 30 to 40 degrees below average through Thursday, with parts of the northern High Plains seeing temperatures well below zero, according to the NWS.

The mercury could plunge as low as minus 20 degrees Thursday and minus 25 degrees Friday in Grand Forks, North Dakota, according to Nathan Rick, a meteorologist in Grand Forks.

Meanwhile, as snow pounded the Great Plains region, threats of ices storms extended all the way from Missouri up through Michigan.

More than 1,500 flights within, into or out of the US were canceled as of 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, according to Flightaware. More than 4,700 flights were delayed.

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A more than 200-mile stretch of Interstate 40 from central Arizona to the New Mexico line closed Wednesday due to heavy snow and wind gusts of up to 80 mph. Thousands were left without power Wednesday in Arizona.

New York City, however, was spared from the frightful weather.

“For us here in the city, it will pretty much all be rain,” Mastro told The Post, adding that the weather system will hit the northeast Thursday.

“But further to the north, interior portions of New England, they will be dealing with some snow,” he predicted.

Temperatures in the Big Apple will stay well above freezing in the 40s Thursday.

“[I] can’t completely rule out flakes here, but it does look once again like it will probably be what this entire winter has been: just on the outside looking in for where the snow actually is,” the forecaster said.

Temperatures in the boroughs were expected to dip below freezing as the weekend rolled in, but the city was expected to avoid much colder temperatures expected in Upstate New York and New England, Mastro said.