Over a hundred million people in 25 states that span from the Mexican to Canadian borders were under зимняя погода warnings on Thursday, CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett said.
Snow, sleet, and ice have flurried over 2,000 miles of the eastern part of the US, and now many are trapped in the буря without power, according to a report by CNN.
About 130,000 customers were without electricity as of 9:15 a.m. ET, according to Poweroutage.us. Over 70,000 Перебои питания были в Техас. More than 25,000 houses and offices had потерянная сила in Арканзас.
В соответствии с Национальная служба погоды«s Weather Prediction Center, the “significant winter буря is expected to impact much of the central and Northeastern НАС. through Friday night.”
Over 20 inches of snow has already fallen throughout the Колорадо Springs area, the weather service declared, while portions of Иллинойс и Индиана are submerged under a foot of snow.
В Техасе буря is expected to test the power grid hit with massive outages in February last year. The state’s power grid leaders, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), on Wednesday announced that they’re confident they’ll be able to meet demands during the буря. However, they cautioned that there could be outages caused by the accumulated ice on wires or fallen tree branches.
Forecasters believe that the буря system will likely bring a frigid mixture of threats as it moves farther east.
“The system will be prolonged with several rounds of зимняя погода lasting through Friday for portions of the central НАС. before shifting to the interior Northeast,” the weather service said Wednesday.
опасно путешествовать conditions have led to accidents and road closures. In Иллинойс, officials have closed portions of several highways after several crashes.
In Оклахома, traveling in most areas “is strongly discouraged,” as declared by its transportation department. Two counties within the state were not affected in the early hours of Thursday morning, and portions of some interstates were closed, such as I-40 and I-35.
Ассоциация Миссури Department of Transportation also warned автомобилистов that numerous roads throughout the state were covered in snow.
Can you believe the crazy winter storm chaos happening across 25 U.S. states? Meteorologists are predicting record low temps, which is definitely worrying for residents and infrastructure. Emergency teams are putting in serious work to help out. Stay safe and prepared during this tough time!