(Chicago) About 350,000 homes and businesses lost power across the United States on Thursday as freezing rain and snow weighed down tree branches and snagged power lines. The winter storm reportedly caused a tornado in Alabama, dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest and brought rare measurable snowfall to parts of Texas.
Updated yesterday at 10:56 p.m.
Stormy conditions have also caused headaches for travelers across the country, with airlines canceling more than 9,000 flights scheduled for Thursday or Friday in the United States.
Power outages blamed on icy or downed power lines were highest in Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Ohio, but the storm’s track extended further from the central United States to the south and northeast Thursday.
Heavy snowfall was expected from the southern Rockies to northern New England, while forecasters said heavy ice accumulation was likely from Texas to Pennsylvania.
Parts of Ohio, New York and northern New England were expected to experience heavy snowfall as the storm moved east with 30 to 45 centimeters of snow being thrown in some places until See you Friday.
On the warmer side of the storm, severe thunderstorms that can bring gusty winds and tornadoes were possible Thursday in parts of Mississippi and Alabama, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
In western Alabama, multiple homes were damaged and people were injured and trapped following an apparent tornado in rural Hale County, Emergency Management Director Russell Weeden said. at WBMA-TV. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings for the area as a line of storms moved.
Winter tornadoes are unusual, but possible, and scientists have said the atmospheric conditions needed to cause a tornado have intensified as the planet warms.
More than 51 centimeters of snow were reported in the Southern Rocky Mountain region, while more than a foot of snow fell in areas of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
The storm’s impact is being felt as far south as Texas, a year after an ice storm decimated the state’s power grid and caused one of the worst blackouts in US history. However, this year’s forecast is less catastrophic than that of February 2021.
In Dallas, where there is rarely accumulation of snow, the mixture in 24 hours of snow and freezing rain had formed Thursday afternoon an ice cover making the roads perilous.
As night fell, nearly 300,000 customers were still without power, mostly in Tennessee and Ohio, according to poweroutage.us. It could take several days for service to be restored in the Memphis area, Memphis Light, Gas & Water spokeswoman Gale Carson said.
One in three customers, or 135,000 company subscribers, is without power.
Also in this region, six people were taken to hospital following a pile-up involving 16 vehicles on a highway. Two people were in critical condition.