(Austin) Another powerful winter storm is expected to begin sweeping across the United States within the next few hours.
Posted at 7:18 p.m.
Heavy snow is expected in the Rockies and freezing rain as far south as Texas. The storm is then expected to dump snow and ice over the Midwest region.
Airlines canceled more than 800 flights scheduled for Wednesday, including many in St. Louis and Chicago.
This storm comes a year after the one that devastated Texas’ electrical infrastructure, killing hundreds.
But this week’s forecast — which includes freezing rain and potentially snow in Dallas and Fort Worth — doesn’t call for the same prolonged, freezing temperatures as the February 2021 storm.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said “no one can guarantee that there won’t be blackouts caused by demand on the grid.”
“But what we’re going to do, and what we’re prepared for, is power is going to stay statewide,” the governor said.
Mr Abbott added that thousands of miles of roads in Texas will become “extraordinarily dangerous” over the next few days. He said, however, that the state’s power grid has enough capacity to handle the surge in demand expected this week once temperatures drop.
Mr Abbott’s handling of last year’s blackouts is one of the Democrats’ main lines of attack as the Republican seeks a third term in 2022.
A mix of rain, freezing rain and snow
Winter storm watches and warnings are in effect from El Paso, Texas to Burlington, Vermont. The northeastern United States is just recovering from a storm that generated blizzard conditions in several areas just a few days ago.
Some areas may see a mix of rain and freezing rain before it turns to snow.
“It will be a very messy system that will make it very difficult to travel,” said meteorologist Marty Rausch.
The National Weather Service warns that between 15 and 30 centimeters of snow are expected by Thursday morning in parts of the Rockies and the Midwest. Freezing rain is likely from Texas to the Ohio Valley.
Meteorologists announce between 20 and 35 centimeters of snow Wednesday and Thursday in certain parts of Michigan, and in particular in the Detroit area. Similar accumulations are predicted between Wednesday and Friday morning in northwest Ohio.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, where up to 18 centimeters of snow and sleet are forecast but little ice, Emergency Management Director Joe Kralicek said the storm won’t should not cause large-scale power outages.
Tulsa nonprofit Housing Solutions director Becky Gligo said crews were working to transfer homeless people to shelters before temperatures drop below 10. degrees overnight from Friday to Saturday.