A winter storm is about to blanket 1,400 miles to the south with snow and ice, threatening major impacts

CNN
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A disruptive winter storm will soon paint the South with snow, ice and rain, while the eastern two-thirds of the United States battles the coldest air of the season.

Unusually cold temperatures have plunged deep into the South and will allow the storm to dump a few inches of snow and dangerous ice across a nearly 900-mile stretch of the South from North Texas to the North Carolina coast, threatening major to extreme impacts in a region less adapted to winter weather.

About 80,000 homes and businesses from Missouri to Virginia were still without power by Wednesday morning the last winter stormaccording to PowerOutage.us. Some have been without power since Sunday and are holding out dangerously cold temperatures it is cold even in the coldest month of the year.

Patchy winter weather from the new storm begins Wednesday night in West Texas with light snow and freezing drizzle as the storm organizes. Thursday will be the most impactful day of winter weather for much of the southern plains as the storm hits.

Snow and sleet may begin around sunrise Thursday in North Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and continue into Thursday evening. Some freezing rain may mix in during the afternoon as temperatures briefly rise just above freezing.

A similar mix will begin Thursday morning in Oklahoma and Arkansas. More mixing will keep snow totals a bit lower than originally expected, but will also create dangerous conditions by introducing ice to a larger population.

Any amount of ice is dangerous; just a thin layer—even a tenth of an inch— can turn paved surfaces into ice rinks, causing people to slide and vehicles to slide out of control, like what happened over the weekend in the central United States.

At least moderate impacts from the storm are expected in parts of Texas and Oklahoma given the threat of snow and ice, according to Winter Storm Severity Index. A few areas could experience major or even extreme impacts from this storm, meaning significant disruptions to daily life and hazardous travel conditions.

Frigid temperatures will increase power demand in Texas, but grid conditions are expected to be normal, ERCOT — the operator responsible for the state’s power grid — said in a weather watch issued Sunday. The state grid failed below The catastrophic winter storm of 2021 and prolonged deep freezing, resulting in death of more than 200 people.

Rain and perhaps a few embedded thunderstorms will drench central and south Texas, including Austin and Houston, on Thursday. Flooding is possible, especially in coastal Texas, where severe thunderstorms bubbling to life just offshore could slowly push ashore.

The storm will track further east Thursday night and Friday, bringing messy winter weather to much of the South. Small shifts in its track are still possible and can alter snow and ice outcomes.

The snow will be heaviest from northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma through Tennessee and the southern Appalachians. Several inches of snow could fall across this area, eclipsing half a foot in places from central Arkansas to the southern Appalachians.

Northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia could record 3 inches or more of snow from Thursday night into Friday night. Some of these areas may start out as snow, but change to an icy mix as warmer air moves into the area.

This will likely be the case in Atlanta, which hasn’t had at least an inch of snow in nearly seven years, but has a moderate chance for it with this storm. Precipitation will begin as snow early Friday morning, but will mix with freezing rain in the afternoon through the evening as temperatures warm to near freezing.

Precipitation will rapidly expand eastward Friday night as the storm approaches the Atlantic coast, and a mix of snow and ice will reach the Carolinas. Charlotte, North Carolina, hasn’t recorded measurable snow — at least 0.1 inch — in nearly two years, but is likely to break that snow drought before this weekend.

Early forecasts suggested the possibility that the storm could deliver significant snow to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast over the weekend, but that scenario looks less likely. Still, a separate storm dipping south out of Canada could work with the southern storm to pull moisture north and spread precipitation to most of the east.

A quick round of snow totaling 1 to 3 inches or less is possible for much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Friday night into early Saturday morning. The storm quickly clears out of the east Saturday morning, leaving gusty winds in its wake, especially near the coast.

CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa contributed to this report.