CNN
By Alanne Orjoux and Holly Yan, CNN
A brutal winter storm sweeping through much of the Southeast has brought three rare sights: freezing rain, snow, and ice. And the Northeast is next.
Sunday’s winter weather warnings span 1,400 miles from Mississippi to Maine and cover up to 80 million people, CNN weather forecasters said.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an ice storm warning for parts of South Carolina Sunday through early Monday, with temperatures expected to remain below freezing through early next week.
“Significant amounts of ice accumulation make travel dangerous or impossible‘ the NWS Greenville office said on Sunday. “Travel is strongly discouraged.”
More than 278,000 people are without power as of 2 p.m. ET, according to reports PowerOutage.US. Top post-failure areas include:
- North Carolina 90,351
- South Carolina 88,930
- Georgia 56,928
- Florida 32,161
- Tennessee 7,487
- Alabama 3.103
“North Carolina is now feeling the effects of a winter storm that will continue to sweep through the state to this day,” Gov. Roy Cooper said Sunday.
“Up to 8 to 12 inches of snow has fallen in some counties, and significant icing is causing problems in the central part of the state,” Cooper said. “Conditions vary in North Carolina and are dangerous in many areas.”
At least 25 counties in North Carolina have declared a state of emergency, and Cooper said some counties are ready to open shelters to house those without electricity or heat.
Road conditions throughout North Carolina are “treacherous,” Secretary of Transportation Eric Boyette said. At least 200 collisions have been reported and crews are working “round the clock” to clean roads,” he said.
The NWS warned of ice accumulation become very dangerous along and east of I-85 including Spartanburg, South Carolina up to Salisbury, North Carolina. This includes the entire Greater Charlotte area.
Charlotte could get up to a foot of snow and up to a half inch of ice in the foothills, forecasters said. Raleigh is expected to get up to 2 inches of snow and possibly a quarter-inch of ice.
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In Virginia, a multi-vehicle crash occurred on Interstate 81 near Roanoke County that blocked all lanes of traffic and reportedly resulted in a minor injury a tweet by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Freezing roads in northern Georgia have created dangerous conditions, the National Weather Service in Atlanta said.
“We are receiving reports of numerous accidents in North GA from ATL Metro East,” the agency said in a Twitter post. Please, please, stay calm out there. The streets are beginning to freeze as very cold air continues to infiltrate.”
Snowfall rates could exceed an inch per hour from northeast Georgia to the western Carolinas and far east Tennessee This was announced by the storm forecast center. Heavy snow is also possible in western Virginia.
The mid-Atlantic and Northeast are under attack
Forecasters say the storm will move up the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions on Sunday and Monday.
“The highest snowfall totals are expected along the Appalachian Spine and over the lower Great Lakes,” according to the National Weather Service said Sunday.
From the mid-Atlantic to New England, “precipitation is predicted to begin as snow before transitioning to ice/sleet and eventually rain as the storm center is approached.” said NWS.
Some snow will fall in large metropolitan areas, but a switch to rain will hold back accumulations. Washington could get 2-4 inches while Philadelphia could get 1-2 inches. New York and Boston are expected to get about an inch each.
Elsewhere, however, heavier snowfall is expected.
“As is usual with this storm stretch, the Shenandoah Valley back toward the Alleghenies will be the likely winner in terms of highest snowfall totals.” NWS Baltimore said Saturday.
“7 to 10 inches is possible, but over a foot isn’t out of the question where heavier bands form.”
Snowfall intensity in the region can be heavy enough to evade significant icing, but NWS Baltimore warned that untreated surfaces could still create dangerous travel conditions where ice accumulates.
Most of the snowfall will occur from Sunday afternoon through Monday morning.
Downtown cities like Charleston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Syracuse and Burlington, Vermont will see the heaviest snow.
Coastal flooding is also expected
In addition to the potential for snowfall, strong easterly winds associated with the storm system could cause major coastal flooding of up to 3 feet above ground in some areas along the northeast coast at high tide.
Parts of New York City, Long Island and some areas of Connecticut are under coastal flood warnings, forecasters said.
The timing of the east-south wind shift largely determines the severity of flooding, with moderate flooding potential if the winds shift before the tide.
“Widespread moderate to locally large flooding of vulnerable areas is possible near the waterfront and shoreline, including roads, parking lots, parks, lawns, and homes and businesses with basements near the waterfront,” the NWS said in New York on Saturday.
Flooding could cause road closures and structural damage along the Atlantic Seaboard.
The CNN Wire
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CNN’s Joe Sutton, Allison Chinchar, Chad Myers, Dave Hennen, Monica Garrett, Haley Brink, and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.
