Wickedly cold air to bring dangerous, life-threatening conditions where ice storm cuts power
Hundreds of thousands may be without heat for a time in the southern United States in the wake of a massive snow and ice storm. The magnitude and duration of the cold will threaten lives and property.
Storm chaser Dr. Reed Timmer reports near the Minnesota and Wisconsin border where an Arctic air mass has prompted an extreme cold warning in the region on Jan. 23, ahead of a major winter storm.
Arctic air is expanding across the central and eastern United States and will bring the coldest conditions of the winter in many areas in the coming days. Severe, prolonged cold will reach locations where a large ice storm threatens to cut power to as many as 1 million utility customers from Texas to Virginia.
Temperatures dropped to 15-35 degrees below zero Friday morning from the Dakotas to Minnesota and Wisconsin. AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures of 70 below zero were observed in northern Minnesota and 40-60 below zero in northern Wisconsin.
Some of those same extremely low AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature values will be felt farther south and east this weekend. While the cold will not be as extreme to the south and east, temperatures will still plunge to 20-40 degrees below the historical average.
At this level, high temperatures in the single digits and teens will be widespread in the snow area during the storm from Oklahoma, Kansas and northern Texas to portions of Pennsylvania, New York and New England.
A slight, temporary reversal in temperatures is forecast in portions of the Tennessee Valley and along the southeastern and mid-Atlantic coasts due to the early part of the storm's circulation through Sunday. This is what allows a transformation from snow to ice and even rain in some locations.
However, the snow and ice produced by the massive storm this weekend will further aid the southward and eastward spread of the bitterly cold air in its wake.
Where heat is unavailable for an extended period, the likelihood of pipes freezing and bursting, leading to expensive water damage, will increase exponentially. This includes overhead sprinkler systems, which became a major source of burst pipes during the February 2021 ice storm and Arctic outbreak.
When power goes out, many gas and oil furnaces still need some electricity to operate. Baseboard and heat pump electric systems will not function.
“Our meteorologists are increasingly concerned that extended power outages during extreme cold could become life threatening,” said AccuWeather Senior Storm Warning Meteorologist William Clark. “The sheer size of the freezing rain footprint means utility crews may struggle to concentrate restoration efforts in any one area. Long-duration outages, followed by repeated surges of Arctic air through the end of January and beyond, will significantly increase the risk of hypothermia, especially for vulnerable people, including older adults and those with medical conditions, for those who have no heat.”
Once areas in the zone from Texas to northern Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia drop below freezing, temperatures may stay well below freezing into Monday afternoon and may only spend a few hours above freezing during the afternoons this week. This may limit natural melting of ice and cause damp areas to freeze solid toward the end of the storm and during evenings into this week.
In short, the ice and snow cover will persist for several days after the storm. Where runoff or moisture develops during the day, ice is likely to form at night.
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