A powerful blizzard barreling across the eastern half of the U.S. is bringing ferocious winds and dangerously cold temperatures across the South and East while an ice storm is wreaking havoc in the Pacific Northwest, and the dangerous combination has knocked out power to over 800,000 people across 20 states Friday morning.
Georgia has taken the worst of it so far, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.US, with nearly 110,000 without power as of 7 a.m. EST. Texas and Connecticut had over 75,000 without power while South Carolina was nearing 60,000 outages.
With the Eastern storm, winds are forecast to howl at nearly 50 mph as the storm system bombs out while moving toward the Northeast. Gusts as high as 70 mph are not out of the question. All of this happens as temperatures plummet.
At that speed, winds will most likely take down some trees and power lines and create power outages from the Great Lakes into the Northeast. Widespread power outages are possible in western New York and a large swath of interior New England. The coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut also face the threat of widespread power outages.
In the West, both Ice Storm and Winter Storm warnings, as well as Winter Weather Advisories, are up across Washington state and Oregon.
As much as a half-inch of ice could accrete from Portland north to near Seattle along the Interstate 5 corridor. An icy glaze that thick will certainly weigh down trees and power lines, which could lead to numerous power outages. Snow elsewhere in the region could also bring down trees and power lines.
Widespread outages are possible along the Interstate 5 corridor between Eugene, Oregon, and Astoria, Washington. Another swatch of widespread power outages is possible from Bend to Hood River in Oregon and into southern Washington state.
Many cities offer warming centers for people who lose power during the extreme cold. Ensure both fireplaces and generators have proper ventilation to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.