As winter storm moves across U.S., ice becomes bigger concern
CTV
More than 200,000 homes and businesses lost power across the U.S. on Thursday as power companies struggled to keep pace with freezing rain and snow that weighed down tree limbs and encrusted power lines, part of a multi-day winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest and triggered weather warnings from Texas to the Northeast.
Power outages blamed on icy or downed power lines were concentrated in Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, but the path of the storm stretched further from the central U.S. into the South and Northeast on Thursday.
Heavy snow was expected from the southern Rockies to northern New England, while forecasters said heavy ice buildup was likely from Texas to Pennsylvania.
“We have a lot of real estate covered by winter weather impacts this morning,” Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said early Thursday. “We do have an expansive area of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain occurring.”
Parts of Ohio, New York and northern New England were expected to see heavy snowfall as the storm moves to the east with 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 centimetres) of snow possible in some places through Friday, Orrison said.
