Image Source: CNN
From Tennessee to Texas, nearly 40 million people in the south-central US are on a winter weather alert.
Some parts of the area are already getting a mix of freezing rain, sleet, and very cold air, which is expected to last until the middle of the week.
There have been more than 1,900 canceled flights, and airports in Texas have been the hardest hit.
The weather forecast says that the next few days will be “dangerous for travel.”
The National Weather Service said Tuesday morning that there could be up to half an inch of ice on the roads in Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, and Memphis, Tennessee.
Police in Arlington, Texas, said they went to a crash with seven cars and a rollover that killed someone. The fire department for Austin said that a 10-car crash there killed a second person.
The Austin police said that on Tuesday, they were called to more than 200 accidents.
The Travis County, Texas, sheriff’s office said that a sheriff’s deputy was hurt Tuesday morning when a truck hit him while helping a car that had slid off the road. It happened because of the weather.
In Texas, many schools closed. As of Tuesday evening, more than 30,000 homes in the state were without power.
This kind of weather happens when a cold front from the Arctic moves south and meets warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.
The NWS said this would likely cause snowy rain in the area. The agency also says that parts of the Deep South and southeast of the US will see heavy rain and scattered flash floods by midweek.
The cold air will also reach the central and western parts of the US, where wind chills will drop temperatures to -40F, which is well below average (-40C). Temperatures are also expected to fall to -30F in New England and -60F near the border with Canada.
FlightAware, a website that keeps track of flights, says that nearly 2,000 US flights had been canceled as of Tuesday night. Large airlines like Delta, American, United, and Southwest were affected. However, all airlines have let people change their flights without extra fees.
Hundreds of residents in Texas are without power
This week, a deadly ice storm in the south of the US has made it hard to get around and cut power to many people in Texas.
US airlines have called off more than 2,150 flights. The worst damage has been done to airports in Dallas and Austin.
Due to the bad weather, there were a lot of car accidents on the wet roads, and at least five people died.
From now until Thursday, freezing rain and ice will get worse all over the area.
According to poweroutage.us, as of Wednesday morning, more than 270,000 people in Texas did not have power.
The National Weather Service said that the “long-lasting and significant” ice storm is still happening in many of the southern Plains and mid-south.
Since Monday, freezing rain and sleet have been falling in the south-central United States, from Tennessee to Texas. Because of this, more than 12 million people in Dallas, Fort Worth, Little Rock, and Memphis are now under an ice storm warning.
The NWS said there could be more ice on the roads in central and north-central Texas and parts of southern Arkansas. There could be as much as a half-inch of ice because of the crazy weather.
“This much ice on top of what has already fallen will probably make it more dangerous to drive on roads that haven’t been treated, and it could also damage trees and cause power outages,” the NWS said.
The agency also said that flash floods could happen in parts of Texas, Louisiana, and northern Georgia on Thursday because of heavy rain.
This weather is caused by a cold front from the Arctic that is moving south and meeting warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.
Because of this, the NWS said the area would likely get snowy rain or snow.
On Wednesday morning, Dallas warned drivers about an ice storm, saying that getting around that night and Thursday would be “almost impossible.”
Because the roads were dangerous, classes were canceled in Dallas and Memphis on Wednesday. Tyre Nichols’ funeral in Memphis didn’t start on time because it was cold. Last month, Nichols died after police beat him up.
Since Monday, many car accidents have happened in Texas, some of which have been fatal. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, three men died in an accident near Brownfield, which is southwest of Lubbock.
Local authorities say that a car crash in Austin on Tuesday killed one person. On Monday, a 45-year-old man driving an SUV in Arlington hit a highway guardrail.
Several police departments in the area have warned drivers to be careful. For instance, the Dallas Police Department told people to make sure their tires were properly inflated, drive slower on icy roads, and not use cruise control.
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Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, also told drivers to “stay off the roads if you can.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, has also called for a state of emergency because of the ice.
