Season’s Most Extreme Winter Storm Threatens Ice, Snow, and Record Cold From Dallas, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts
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A Storm Takes Shape Across the Heart of the Country
The atmosphere is loading fast. Cold air pours south. Moisture rises from the Gulf. By late week, the collision will be unavoidable.A major winter storm, described by forecasters as the most extreme of the season so far, is expected to sweep across the eastern half of the United States from Friday through the weekend. Fed by a brutal Arctic air mass, the system is forecast to unleash a wide band of snow, sleet, and freezing rain stretching more than 1,000 miles.
“An expansive winter storm will produce a swath of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Southern Rockies and Plains through the Mid-South, shifting toward the East Coast through Sunday," the Weather Prediction Center warned.
Ice Zone Brings the Greatest Risk
The most dangerous part of the storm may not be the snow. It is the ice.Forecast models show a corridor of damaging freezing rain from northern Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley, northern Georgia, and parts of the Carolinas. Even a thin glaze could turn roads into glass and pull down trees and power lines.
A coating of just 0.6 to 1.3 centimeters of ice is enough to cause widespread damage. In this setup, travel may become impossible in some areas.
Major cities sit directly in the path. Dallas, TX, Austin, TX, Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, and Nashville, TN all face the potential for ice-related disruption.
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Major winter storm to bring heavy snow, damaging ice, and Arctic cold from the Plains to the East CoastSnow Piles Up to the North
North of the ice, winter takes a more familiar form. Snow.Several inches of snow are expected from Oklahoma and northern Texas through southern Kansas, then eastward into the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic. By the end of the weekend, a plowable swath of snow could extend into New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and Boston, MA.
Snow and ice are expected to break out Friday across Oklahoma City, OK, and Kansas, spreading east through Saturday and Sunday. In some locations, winter precipitation could persist for more than 24 hours.
Travel Disruption Likely Nationwide
Roads. Airports. Power grids. All are under threat.AccuWeather warned that the scope of the storm could overwhelm infrastructure across more than two dozen states.
“Potentially hundreds of thousands of people may go without electricity and heat for days," said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.
Some highways in Texas and Oklahoma may remain impassable for days. Airports across the storm zone face cascading delays, with more than 4,000 flight cancellations considered likely nationwide over the weekend.
Arctic Air Fuels the Chaos
Behind the storm, the cold settles in and refuses to leave.This Arctic outbreak is expected to deliver the coldest air of the winter so far. By Friday, temperatures could run 30 degrees below average across parts of the Dakotas, MN, Iowa, WI, and northern Illinois.
In Minneapolis, MN, thermometers may remain below zero all day Friday, with overnight lows near minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Chicago, IL, could see multiple mornings with subzero lows.
Wind chills in the Upper Midwest may plunge to 30 to 50 degrees below zero, conditions where frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes.
Cold Pushes Deep Into the South and East
By Saturday, the cold air spreads south and east.High temperatures in Boston, MA, and New York, NY, may struggle to climb out of the teens. Farther south, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, is forecast to remain below freezing for 48 to 60 consecutive hours, increasing the risk of burst pipes and prolonged outages.
“This cold wave will coincide with a major snow and ice storm," Porter said, underscoring the compound threat.
Impacts May Linger Into Next Week
Snow and ice will not melt quickly under this level of cold. Any accumulation could linger well into early next week, extending disruptions long after the storm exits offshore.Forecasters caution that while confidence is high in significant impacts, exact snow and ice totals remain uncertain. Small shifts in storm track could dramatically change conditions at the local level.
One point is already clear. Winter is about to show its full strength.
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