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160 million from Texas to Boston await crippling snow, ice

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, widespread power outages and bitterly cold weather barreled toward the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.

The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around a foot of snow from Oklahoma through Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, and then a final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit 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 could cause frostbite within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

The cold punch coming after will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weigh 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. Gov. 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.


(AP Photo George Walker IV)
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