The low-pressure system has had a deadly impact: at least 15 people have been killed in weather-related vehicle accidents since the cold temperatures. In Oklahoma alone, 123 people were hospitalized with weather-related injuries.
As snow cover usually causes moderate states like Texas and Oklahoma and power outages in Louisiana misery, about 200 million people remain under some kind of weather warning.
The storm is expected to pull through the Northeast late Tuesday, leaving a trail of heavy snow and ice in its path, CNN meteorologist Tyler Mauldin said.
The temperature is expected to rise as it moves, although record cold mornings and afternoons will linger until Saturday, Mauldin said. Millions use the temperature that feels below zero late in the week.
But once the low-pressure system leaves states like Texas and Oklahoma, a system that pours cold precipitation onto the West Coast is expected to take its place with more winter disaster, Maudlin said.
“I’m almost certain we’ll see one of the first billion – dollar disasters slowly unfold in 2021,” Mauldin said.
As many as 200 more cold temperature records can be broken
The exceptionally cold temperatures are expected to have reached almost every corner of the US.
Seattle has reported more than 11 inches of snow this past weekend, the most since January 1972. More than 50 inches of snow has fallen in parts of Wyoming over the past few days.
More than 6 inches of snow fell from East Texas to Ohio, with some areas picking up more than a foot. Heavy snow could reach areas in the winds of Lake Erie and Ontario as the system leaves New England on Tuesday night.
By that time, there is a possibility that nearly 200 more cold temperature records have been broken.
Oklahoma City achieved a record five days without climbing more than 20 degrees – they are not expected to reach the temperature until Thursday, for a period of nine days.
Power and water shut off
The drop in temperature froze or overworked power sources, leaving nearly 5 million people in the dark by Tuesday morning.
Although no rolling power outages are planned for Louisiana, Government Secretary John Bel Edwards said it could happen if the power generation is unable to meet demand. Edwards said it would be the coldest weather Louisiana has experienced in several decades, and that about 125,000 households have lost power, some more than 12 hours.
In Abilene, Texas, the approximately 123,000 residents are also without water due to power outages. All three of the city’s water treatment plants had to be shut down when both of them went out of power, according to a statement from the city of Abilene.
“It is not known exactly when power and subsequent water service will be returned to Abilene water customers,” the city said.
Vaccinations postponed
Along with power, the winter storms delayed Covid-19 vaccinations in the US.
San Antonio, Texas, postponed the vaccinations Tuesday at the Alamodome for the second day straight. Elsewhere in the state of Harris County, Texas, officials rushed to dispense and rescue 8400 coronavirus vaccines that could be compromised after the generator and generator failed Monday morning.
“Missouri is experiencing severe winter weather that makes driving dangerous and threatens the health and safety of everyone exposed to the cold. These conditions are also likely to slow down the transportation of vaccines,” Parson said. “We want to protect the safety of everyone involved in the mass vaccination events, from the patients who are vaccinated to the volunteers who generously support these events.”
‘Roads are covered faster than we can clear them’
While waiting for the force to arrive again, many officials warned residents that it was not time to be on the road.
Since Sunday, the Mississippi Highway Patrol has said it has investigated more than 400 weather-related traffic incidents.
According to a tweet from the Mississippi Highway Patrol, all but one of the counties reported ice on roads and bridges.
“Heavy avalanches in combination with avalanches mean that roads are covered faster than we can clear them,” the department tweeted.
Texas among the worst hit states
Texas, a state not accustomed to the amount of snow it saw, had the worst effects of the storm.
According to Poweroutages.US, more than 4.1 million customers are without power, and daily life has been severely affected by the cold and the outages.
“Even during Hurricane Harvey, our plant never lost power and we never stopped producing the printed edition, but every emergency has its own twists and turns,” the newspaper wrote.
The cold even disrupted cellular service in Fort Bend County on Monday night, Fort Bend judge KP George wrote on his verified Twitter account.
For Jamie Taylor, a mother of five in Dallas, the power outage of more than 18 hours meant the family had to take care of her apartment in 45 degrees.
CNN’s Kay Jones, Joe Sutton, Rebekah Riess, Dave Alsup and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.