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A massive winter storm is forecast to hit a large part of the U.S. this weekend, stretching more than 2,000 miles from the southwest into the Northeast. A blast of cold air from Canada is expected to bring single-digit temperatures to much of the South, along with substantial accumulations of snow and ice. From Texas to the Carolinas, people are deferring travel and getting ready for possible power outages. NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: In Georgia, the winter storm is expected to bring snow and ice. Governor Brian Kemp says plans to respond to the storm began days ago.
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BRIAN KEMP: We're already looking at next weekend. We'll be prepared, treating roads, having teams ready. You know, hopefully we'll get snow and not ice.
ALLEN: The winter storm will develop over the southwest on Friday and begin moving east. Frigid temperatures and significant accumulations of snow and ice are possible throughout the southeastern U.S. on Saturday. By Sunday, forecasts show the system moving into the Northeast and dropping as much as a foot of snow in some places. Jason Furtado is an associate professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma.
JASON FURTADO: We're going to see snow and ice dipping way down into the South. We're talking down into, you know, areas of Oklahoma, Texas, over to, you know, the southeast, even parts of, you know, Georgia, into the Piedmont. But also, it's the tremendous cold coming in behind it.
ALLEN: Southern states may see days of single-digit temperatures, with wind chills as low as 10 degrees below zero. Winter storm watches have been issued for parts of several states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. Charles Dalton, with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tennessee, says throughout the region, the big concern is ice.
CHARLES DALTON: That starts to bring in the possibility of power outages, downed trees, really, really hazardous travel. You know, you can drive in snow to a degree. But you start talking about freezing rain and sleet and stuff, and that gets, you know, that gets much more tricky.
ALLEN: In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott activated emergency response resources and warned residents to prepare for snow, ice and freezing rain. For many Texans, the prospect of a winter storm, followed by days of freezing temperatures, raises memories of 2021, when millions lost power for days. Allison Prater, with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, says freezing temperatures from this storm won't last as long or be as low as they were in 2021.
ALLISON PRATER: In 2021, the minimum temperature was -2, while, as of right now our forecast, the minimum temperature is only going to be around more like 9 to 10.
ALLEN: ERCOT, the group that operates the Texas power grid, has issued an extreme cold weather advisory, but says with upgrades it's made after 2021, it anticipates it has enough power to meet demands. Ed Hirs, an energy expert at the University of Houston, says while the Texas grid is more resilient than it was five years ago, the cold snap could freeze wind turbines or have other impacts that disrupt power generation.
ED HIRS: That can cascade across ERCOT because it's such a vast geographic area. It's really difficult for ERCOT to isolate nodes that are having problems. So a problem in Austin, you know, could lead to a failure in Dallas or in Houston.
ALLEN: Even in areas that don't see much precipitation, there will be low temperatures - below zero into Monday for more than 100 million Americans.
Greg Allen, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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