(Bloomberg) — The biggest winter storm of the season will bring record-breaking cold starting Friday as it sweeps across Texas before roaring up the U.S. East Coast to New York and Boston.
More than 175 million people across the country will face snow, rain, sleet and ice this weekend. About 230 million will shiver in temperatures of -7C or colder, said Brian Hurley, chief forecaster at the US Weather Forecast Center.
According to the National Weather Service, the winter storm watch stretches more than 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers) from New Mexico east through Tennessee and Alabama. Winter weather advisories and storm warnings extend from North Dakota through the Great Lakes to western New York. At least 222 daily records for cold temperatures may be tied or broken next Tuesday.
Air travel is expected to be snarling and the extreme cold brings the threat of power outages, especially in Texas, where the state grid will be tested again. Any power outages would lead to dangerous conditions as many residents rely on electricity for heat. The storm is expected to sweep across at least five major U.S. power grids, including the Texas Electric Reliability Board and the nation’s largest PJM interconnection network.
The storm threatens up to 60 hours of below-freezing temperatures across large parts of Texas, Hurley said. Cold will arrive on Friday, including in the oil-rich Permian Basin, before rain, snow and ice spread over the weekend. The conditions bring the threat of disruption to natural gas production.
According to BloombergNEF, energy demand is likely to increase over the next two weeks as the cold snap settles in.
Abilene, Texas, is forecast to drop to 12°F Friday night before staying below freezing at 32°F through at least Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Midland will drop to 13F Friday night, with a high of 19F on Saturday and a low of 9F later in the day.
“The great state of Texas is going to see it all,” Hurley said. “Snow in the north, rain in the south and everything in between.”
The storm will then bring snow and ice across the South and Mid-Atlantic, increasing the risk of widespread power outages and limiting air travel across the US. Southern airports typically have less de-icing equipment, which can lead to delays that spread throughout the system.
Atlanta, a major aviation hub, has a 50 percent chance of getting at least a quarter inch of ice Saturday. As the storm moves north on Sunday, delays and cancellations have a good chance of spreading into New York and the Northeast.
“It’s going to be a big deal,” Hurley said. “It would be difficult if you left on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, the chances of New York City and Boston getting snow on Sunday are also increasing, he said. Computer forecast models bring the storm further north with each launch.
(Update with storm impact in second paragraph, details throughout.)
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