More than 175 million people in US face winter storm forecast to strike huge expanse of country

A winter storm will bring more snow and freezing conditions to the US in the next days, making travel very difficult. A crash along a highway in West Michigan this week involved dozens of vehicles. Photo / Handout, AFP

A winter storm bringing very cold temperatures is expected to slam a massive stretch of the United States this week with more than 175 million people facing the prospect of power outages and travel disruptions.

Winter Storm Fern is forecast to engulf an area stretching from Texas and the Great Plains region to the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states.

Forecasts warned it could be 3219 km-long: well over half the length of the continental US.

The storm’s peak is expected to come tomorrow and Saturday NZT with Texas already having declared an emergency.

More than 30cm of snow could be seen across the mid-Atlantic region, forecasters warned, with Virginia and Maryland likely to bear the brunt as arctic air locks in.

US weather channels were running apocalyptic predictions of “crippling ice” and a 2,414km “snow zone” liable to see record-breaking snowfall, while warning that freezing rain could damage power infrastructure and trees.

New York City, the US financial capital and the country’s most populous urban area, could see as much as 30cm of snow, the Weather Channel warned.

“Frigid temperatures will expand across the eastern two-thirds of the country behind an Arctic cold front,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory.

“Frigid sub-zero and single digit temperatures will expand from the Northern Plains into the Mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Northeast by [Monday].

“This Arctic blast will be accompanied by gusty winds, leading to dangerous wind chills. The coldest wind chills may fall below [minus 46C] across the Northern Plains.

“Extreme cold warnings, extreme cold watches and cold weather advisories are in effect for parts of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest beginning [today].”

An extremely cold air mass, combined with a frontal zone to its south will produce a major winter storm from the Central-Southern Plains region to the East Coast starting on Saturday and lasting across the weekend, the advisory added.

Some areas likely to be affected were bracing for the arrival of severe weather conditions.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott yesterday declared a state of emergency and activated emergency resources including the state’s national guard and transport department assets to help ease the pressure on roads.

A combination of snow, rain and sleet could make travel almost impossible, local media warned.

The Monroe County Road Commission, which covers a large area outside Detroit, Michigan, warned “there is a shortage of salt”.

“This year we’ve used more than we have the last four Decembers combined,” David Leach, the commission’s managing director, told CBS News.

In past years, rural areas in the northeast have been entirely cut off while snow ploughs attempted to clear roads.

-Agence France-Presse