Will you see ice or snow?
Ice rain and ice have already begun to fall over many of the warned areas. It includes portions of the Dallas area and extends to Virginia.
Follow the storm
Ice storm warnings apply to places like Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Lexington, Kentucky, where up to half an inch of ice or more is expected. Ice accumulations of half an inch can place as much as 500 kilograms of weight on power lines and trees. Some areas have not seen ice so badly for years.
“It could be one of the worst weeks for winter weather in eastern Kentucky in more than a decade,” says the National Weather Service in Jackson, Kentucky.
How to survive winter weather in your car
The NWS also suggests that if you have to travel, keep an extra flash, food and water in your vehicle when you end up on the roads. People in these alert areas should also make sure they have enough food and warm blankets in case power goes out for a few days.
Although this particular setup is ideal for preventing ice, it remains rather uncertain to determine exactly where most of the accumulation will occur.
“Any slight variation in temperature profiles will lead to changes in the precipitation type which will then lead to changes in ice accumulations,” says the NWS in Louisville. This can mean that the difference in one city is crippling amounts of ice and the next city gets all the rain or snow.
“This weather setup is really a textbook ice-storm situation,” says CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.
‘You have warm, spring-like temperatures in the’ 60s and even ’70s in the Southeast, while the bitterly cold North Pole sky pushes through the Central US to meet the warm air near the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. Where these two air masses meet, the hot air rises and the colder air stays close to the surface, leading to precipitation that falls as rain but freezes on the surface. ‘
Mid-Atlantic Snow
Another round of snow is also forecast for the middle of the Atlantic Ocean until Thursday, and then again on Friday. Places like Washington, DC and Philadelphia are likely to see about 3 to 3 inches of snow, with higher amounts just outside the city.
Much higher amounts will occur in inland parts of Virginia and Western Virginia. Portions of West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania can see 4 to 6 inches, especially at higher altitudes.
Honey, it’s cold outside
The ice could remain stuck through the weekend, with another explosion of Arctic air diving south out of Canada. Sixty million people will experience temperatures below zero next week, with 75% of the population below freezing.
It may be the perfect cozy weather for Valentine’s Day, but severe cold like this will be dangerous, especially for those with no strength. “This means the possibility of power outages with bitterly cold temperatures for a few days,” the NWS said in Memphis.
More than 6 million are under wind chill warnings from Montana to Michigan and south to Nebraska. Temperatures will drop as the cold air pours over much of the country, with dozens of record lows possible in the plains and in the South.
Lower over the weekend until early next week, temperatures will reach as far south as the Texas handle until early next week with temperatures as high as 50 degrees below average.