Millions of people in the United States are expected to be impacted by what is shaping up to be the worst storm ahead of the Christmas holidays in decades.
Many across the country are under winter storm watches, advisories and warnings, as well as windchill alerts over the weather expected to bring potentially life-threatening cold, travel chaos and possible outages.
An exceptionally strong Arctic cold front is set to begin moving southward into the central Plains Wednesday, reaching the southern Plains by early Friday, according to the National Weather Service. This won’t be your average cold front, it warns, with temperatures potentially dropping 20 or more degrees within the span of a few hours.
Power outages likely
The extreme weather over the coming days is likely to bring on power outages across the country.
Peak power outages could be at least into the hundreds of thousands by Saturday morning. Line crews will likely end up spending the holiday weekend attempting to get power back on in -20 degree wind chills.
The areas of greatest concern for power outages are Southern Michigan, Northern Indiana, Northern Ohio, Northeast Pennsylvania, and Eastern New York.
The National Weather Service has warned that scattered power outages are possible by Friday.
Winter storm to bring far-reaching travel chaos
The coming winter storm is expected to bring far-reaching travel chaos across the United States.
Besides the blizzard, heavy rain and high winds are expected to impact the Northeast starting Thursday and into Friday.
The flash freeze that the cold air could usher in as the rain ends is a major concern. A flash freeze, when temperatures quickly drop below freezing, can be dangerous for wet roadways. Roads and sidewalks risk becoming ice sheets and could remain that way until road crews can treat them.
The areas of greatest concern for a flash freeze are Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Western New York. There is also a chance the New York City area experiences a flash freeze during rush hour on Friday. It will be a close call if the roads dry out in time before temperatures drop below freezing.
Millions of people under Winter Storm Warnings
Millions of people in the United States are under Winter Storm Warnings ahead of what could be the worst pre-Christmas storm in decades.
Many across the country are under winter storm watches, advisories and warnings, while millions are also under windchill alerts, with the storm expected to bring potentially life-threatening cold to parts of the U.S.
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