Snow and ice forecasts as far south as Georgia have put large swaths of the Southeast on alert as shoppers scour store shelves for hurricane supplies and supplies. Teams race to handle the highways and roads when a major winter storm comes in from the Midwest.
In Virginia, which left a blizzard thousands of motorists are stranded on a congested highway earlier this month, Governor Ralph Northam recently resigned declare a state of emergency and urged people to take the approaching storm seriously. In North Carolina, some store shelves have been stripped of essential items including bread and milk.
By Friday, the fast-moving storm had dumped heavy snow across large swaths of the Midwest, where travel conditions had deteriorated and many schools had closed or switched to online instruction. Iowa was hit hardest. Brad Small, a National Weather Service meteorologist said the airport in Des Moines saw more than 14 inches of snow and a large crowd in central and southern Iowa was recorded from 9. inches to 1 foot of snow.
Perhaps to preview the types of problems eastward, the Iowa State Patrol reported that 207 motorists were assisted and 78 crashes occurred in the 4 hours between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday, according to the Des Moines Register.
In a press release, Indiana Michigan Power said it has sent more than 200 employees to support its sister company, Appalachian Power Company, to help if the storm knocks out power, and that they will travel to Virginia and West Virginia for what is expected. was a storm that dropped “several inches of snow, hail, and ice and experienced gusty winds.”
Forecasters say parts of Tennessee could get up to 6 inches (15 cm) of snow, and northern Mississippi and the Tennessee Valley region of Alabama could get light snow. With a widely predicted 20s low, any amount of rain could freeze, making driving difficult if not dangerous.
Travis Wagler said he has never seen such a shortage of supplies at his Abbeville, South Carolina hardware store for at least two winters.
“We’re selling everything you might expect: sleds, but also salt, shovels and firewood,” says Wagler from Abbeville Hardware. That area faces predictions of a quarter inch (0.6 cm) or more of ice on trees and power lines, which could lead to days without power.
A winter storm warning extends from just north of metro Atlanta to Arkansas in the west and Pennsylvania in the north, covering parts of 10 states including Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Commuting problems could extend to the Atlanta metro, where about 2 inches (5 cm) of snow brought traffic to a halt in 2014, an event still known as “Snowmaggedon”.
A mix of ice and snow up to 2.5 centimeters thick is expected in Atlanta, according to an announcement released by the National Weather Service Saturday.
At Dawsonville Hardware about 60 miles (95 km) north of Atlanta, owner Dwight Gilleland said he ran out of heaters by Friday afternoon and only had five bags of salt and sand left.
“I think the pandemic has made people more worried than usual,” he said.
Nearly 1,000 domestic flights were canceled on Sunday due to snow forecast in the South Flight tracking website Flightaware.com, track flight cancellations worldwide. A major US airport hub for American Airlines – Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina – led the list of Sunday cancellations at US airports.
Power outages and travel problems could be exacerbated by any cover of ice – and gusts of up to 35 mph (55 km/h), the National Weather Service said.
“Hopefully the storm will be under-distributed, but it could be over-distributed. We don’t know,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said as he announced storm preparedness. He had no chance when he declared an emergency and crews began treating major roads and highways in northern Georgia.
Governor Henry McMaster in neighboring South Carolina also issued an emergency order, saying the state will likely begin to feel the effects of the major winter storm Sunday morning.
“There is the potential for very dangerous conditions due to the accumulation of ice and snow, resulting in power outages across the state,” he said.
Spokesman Randy Britton said the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had to borrow workers from other departments to help handle the roads before the storm because Covid-19 had caused a shortage of workers. Volunteers are even helping out as the city ramps up its schedule to prepare for normal winter weather, he said.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an emergency order and authorities urged people to stay home as the storm makes landfall. The state highway agency warned that labor shortages mean crews may not be able to respond to problem areas as quickly as they normally would.
The storm, which after the weekend is expected to move into the Southeast, is then expected to move into the Northeast while shedding snow, hail and rain around the densely populated South China Sea.
Many schools and businesses will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which could help mitigate travel problems coupled with temperatures expected to rise in the 40s.
