Huge US winter storm to bring crippling snow, sleet and ice

(AP) — Bread was flying off the shelves, salt was being loaded into trucks and utility workers nervously watched forecasts Thursday as a huge winter storm that could bring catastrophic damage barrelled toward the eastern United States. 

The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around a foot (30 centimetres) of snow from Oklahoma through Washington, DC, New York and Boston. A final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-46 Celsius) in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Forecasters are warning the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. About 160 million people were under winter storm or cold weather watches or warnings — and in many places both.

The storm was expected to begin Friday in New Mexico and Texas, with the worst weather moving east into the Deep South before heading up the coast and thumping New England with snow.

Cold air streaming down from Canada caused Chicago Public Schools and Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa to cancel classes Friday. Wind chills predicted to be as low as minus-35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-37 Celsius) could cause frostbite within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

The cold punch coming after means it will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weighs down tree branches and power lines and cuts electricity, perhaps for days. Roads and sidewalks could remain icy well into next week.

Freezing temperatures are expected all the way to Florida, forecasters said.

A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Governor Greg Abbott said Thursday that won't happen again, saying the power system “has never been stronger, never been more prepared."

In the Houston area, CenterPoint Energy, which maintains the wires, poles and electrical infrastructure serving more than 2.8 million customers, had 3,300 employees ready to work the winter storm, said Paul Lock, CenterPoint's local government affairs director.

Winter storms can be notoriously tricky to forecast — one or two degrees can mean the difference between a catastrophe or a cold rain — and forecasters said the places with the worst weather can't be pinned down until the event starts.

Ahead of the storm, Atlanta resident Jennifer Girard bought some blankets and batteries at a Walmart in nearby Chamblee with her 21-month-old baby.

Canned food, batteries and water were among the most popular items, leaving shelves less stocked than usual.

“I used to live in Florida, we used to do that all the time for hurricane season, so it's not so different,” she said.

In the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky, ice melt and snow shovels sold fast at the family-owned Brownsboro Hardware. Store manager Matthew Isham said the storm “has people on edge.”

“I've heard a ton of people saying they don't think they're going to get in or out of their driveway if it does snow like they're saying,” Isham said.

As a precaution, North Carolina's largest public school system prepared for potentially several days out of physical classrooms next week. The Wake County school system, with 161,000 students in and around Raleigh, told its nearly 11,000 teachers to create three days of assignments accessible online or through paper copies.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.