More than one million homes and businesses have lost power as a severe winter storm sweeps the United States.
The nation is contending with an arctic front causing snowfall and frigid temperatures until Saturday, which marks Christmas Eve, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS). Beyond placing travel plans in jeopardy as airlines cancel flights and poor conditions impact roads, residents of several states are currently without power, particularly along the East Coast, according to data from PowerOutage.US.
North Carolina and Maine have the highest number of customers without power, with roughly 171,000 and 151,000 outages respectively. Tennessee and New York have 101,000 and 110,000 residents without power, while Connecticut has 69,000.
Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) was one of multiple chief executives to declare a state of emergency earlier this week in anticipation of the cold weather. “We know that with the extremely low temperatures North Carolinians will need propane and other heating fuel to keep their families warm,” he said in a statement.
Other states west of the Mississippi River, such as Texas, Oregon, and Washington, have significant outages. The Lone Star State has 57,000 residents without power, while the two Pacific Northwest states have a combined 35,000. Arkansas and Louisiana have a combined 24,000 citizens without power.
In Buffalo, New York, wind gusts as high as 70 miles per hour are expected on Friday; the city could receive up to three feet of snow over the holiday weekend. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, residents saw temperatures drop from 43 degrees to 3 degrees in half an hour. The arctic blast is also impacting temperatures in Dallas, Texas, which saw a low of 11 degrees on Friday morning, and Tampa, Florida, whose residents will wake up to near-freezing temperatures on Saturday morning.
Texas witnessed severe power outages in February 2021 after nearly half of the state’s wind turbines and much of the state’s natural gas system were impacted by frigid temperatures. Electric power distribution company Entergy Texas announced in a statement that staffers are working to restore power, according to a report from Fox 26 Houston. “The localized outages are related to windy conditions affecting main line and neighborhood circuits,” the company said. “Entergy Texas power generation resources continue to operate as expected, and crews are working around the clock to safely restore power as quickly as possible.”
The poor weather conditions are also impacting major delivery services as Americans order last-minute Christmas presents. FedEx and UPS issued statements warning of delays, while Amazon and the United States Postal Service shuttered multiple locations.
Nearly 102 million Americans planned to drive to their holiday destinations, marking an increase from last year despite recent increases in gas prices, according to data from AAA. Meanwhile, roughly 54 million passengers will depart from airports between December 18 and January 3, constituting a 20% increase from last year, according to data from Hopper.
“Rapid and significant temperature decreases associated with this system raises the potential for the flash freezing of bridges and roadways,” the National Weather Service said in a Wednesday bulletin. “The intensity of the cold would pose a significant danger to anyone who becomes stranded in blizzard conditions. A series of systems moving onshore in the Pacific Northwest will lead to several rounds of heavy precipitation this holiday weekend.”
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.