Winter is sweeping across the country, with extreme weather forecasts on both coasts, while much of the center of the country faces bitterly cold temperatures.
Large parts of the US are being warned about weekend conditions. Nearly 90 million people faced winter weather alerts or worse.
“As cold arctic airmass remains in much of the country, winter precipitation this weekend will bring hazards in the Pacific Northwest, Southern Plains, Mississippi Valley in the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic Ocean in the Northeast. next week. Temperatures will remain 20 to 40 degrees below normal in the center of the country on Saturday, “the National Weather Service said Friday night.
Governors in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana have declared emergencies in their states ahead of a storm expected to bring heavy snow, ice and rain.
The National Weather Service warned of bitterly cold temperatures and near blizzards in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where six people were killed in a 130-concern pile-up on an icy highway on Thursday.
Forecasts called for up to six inches of snow and wind cold 15 degrees below freezing.
In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, officials urged residents to be prepared for icy roads and up to inches of snow all weekend and beyond. “Wherever you are on a Sunday night, you have to be prepared to stay there at least Tuesday,” officials said.
A polar dive that will take hold of much of the Midwest on Friday is expected to continue for much of next week.
In Kansas City, Missouri, the high was 8 degrees on Friday, and forecasters warned it will drop to -20 on the weekend, taking the cold winds into account.
The growing cold snap in the Southern Plains is so dangerous that the National Weather Service office in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, warned residents watch for the signs of hypothermia and frostbite bite.
“If you have warming shelters, you have to make plans because now is the time to prepare them,” said the office in situ report on the bitter cold.
“A quasi-stationary front at the leading edge of the cold air mass will remain over the southeast through Sunday evening,” the weather service said in a forecast discussion Friday.
The Pacific Northwest began to see more snow and some freezing rain on Friday afternoon after snow fell in parts of Washington and Oregon on Thursday.
The weather service issued an ice storm warning on Friday for Oregon’s Central Willamette Valley including Salem and for the Portland South Metro and a winter storm warning for the Portland / Vancouver, Washington areas. After 5:00 p.m., freezing rain began to fall in places near the Portland subway, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said.
Forecasters said the Portland area could see up to 20 inches of snow and the Cascades could gain a footing again until Saturday.
A winter storm warning is also in effect for the greater Seattle area, where 2 to 8 inches of snow was expected along with gusts of wind up to 40 mph. A winter storm warning for the Olympia, Washington region, predicted up to another foot of snow until Saturday, after that city received more than 6 inches in places Thursday.
The weekend would also bring severe winter weather to the Mid-Atlantic, where an ice storm was expected.
The Washington, DC area was under advice and Baltimore residents braced for an ice storm, with power outages and tree damage likely.
“Travel can be next to impossible” from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, the National Weather Service warned.
The Associated Press contributed.