5 days ago
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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, potential power outages and travel disruptions.
The storm is expected to bring “widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain” from the south Rockies and plains into the mid-south beginning on Friday, before spreading east to the mid-Atlantic and New England areas this weekend, according to the US National Weather Service on Thursday. The impact in New England will potentially linger into Monday.
Heavy snow is likely across “a broad region” from the southern Rockies and plains through the mid-Atlantic and into the north-east, with snowfall totals “exceeding 12 inches” becoming “more probable in localized areas,” the agency forecasted.
Weather officials have also said that “widespread freezing rain and sleet” are forecast for parts of the southern plains, lower Mississippi Valley, Tennessee Valley, the south-east, and southern Virginia. “Significant and damaging ice accumulations” are likely, as well as the potential for power outages, tree damage and dangerous travel conditions.
The freezing rain and sleet is expected in areas of the southern plains and lower Mississippi Valley on Friday, and then are forecast to shift east into parts of the south-east, Tennessee Valley and 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.
Weather officials are warning of bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills that are expected to spread across the central and eastern US by the end of this week. The cold air is expected to spread into the northern and central plains, midwest and Great Lakes on Thursday, before pushing into the southern plains, Mississippi Valley and midwest by Thursday night.
Officials have noted that the expected wind chills 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 Sunday into Sunday evening. Between eight to 16 inches of snow is expected for parts of the New York region, according to NBC New York.
As of Thursday morning, winter storm watches, which is where conditions are favorable for a winter storm event, have been issued by the National Weather Service for this the next few days in 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, New York and more.
As of Thursday morning, winter storm warnings, which is when heavy snow is expected, have been issued for parts of New York, as well as parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas starting Friday.
In preparation for the expected winter storm, governors including South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Texas’s Greg Abbott, and North Carolina’s Josh Stein have declared states of emergency in order to activate state emergency response resources. Other governors, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey and Maryland’s Wes Moore, have declared “state of preparedness”.
Alex Lamers, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, told the New York Times that a storm like this is “not something you see every winter”, adding that the upcoming storm is “likely to affect about half the US population with accumulating ice, sleet or snow”.
