A powerful winter storm is set to sweep across much of the US this weekend, bringing potentially record-breaking cold, heavy snow and ice that forecasters warn could cause hazardous conditions, power outages and travel disruptions.
The storm is expected to bring “widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain” from the southern Rockies and the plains into the mid-south on Friday, before spreading east to the mid-Atlantic and New England areas this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. The impact in New England will potentially linger into Monday.
As of Thursday afternoon, over 160 million Americans are under winter hazards associated with the impending winter storm, the agency said.
The agency said: “Snowfall totals exceeding 12 inches are likely across the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.”
Weather officials have also said that “widespread freezing rain and sleet” are forecast for parts of the southern plains, the lower Mississippi valley, the Tennessee valley, the south-east and southern Virginia. “Significant and damaging ice accumulations” are likely, and there is the potential for power outages, tree damage and dangerous travel conditions.
The freezing rain and sleet are expected in areas of the southern plains and lower Mississippi valley on Friday, and are forecast to shift east into parts of the south-east, the Tennessee valley and the mid-Atlantic this weekend.
Widespread travel disruptions are expected and “extremely cold air behind the storm will prolong hazardous travel and infrastructure impacts”, the weather service said.
Officials are warning of bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously cold windchill. The cold air is expected to spread into the northern and central plains, the midwest and the Great Lakes region on Thursday, before pushing into the southern plains, the Mississippi valley and the midwest by Thursday night.
Officials have noted that the expected windchill could “pose life-threatening risk of hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin”.
In New York, weather officials have said that the winter storm is likely to arrive on Saturday. They warn that snow may began falling as early as Saturday night, with the heaviest snow probably falling on Sunday into Sunday evening. Between 8 and 16in of snow is expected for parts of the New York region, according to NBC New York.
As of Thursday, various areas are under winter storm watch alerts, which are issued when there is a potential for “significant and hazardous winter weather within 48 hours”. Areas under alert include parts of Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois and New York.
As of Thursday morning, winter storm warnings, which are sent out when heavy snow is expected, have been issued for parts of New York, as well as parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.
In preparation for the expected winter storm, governors including South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Texas’s Greg Abbott, Arkansas’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger, Lousiana’s Jeff Landry, and North Carolina’s Josh Stein have declared states of emergency to activate state emergency response resources. Other governors, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey and Maryland’s Wes Moore, have declared a “state of preparedness”.
Alex Lamers, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, told the New York Times that a storm like this was “not something you see every winter”, adding that the upcoming storm was “likely to affect about half the US population with accumulating ice, sleet or snow”.
