Powerful storm threatens East Coast including parts unaccustomed to heavy snow

NASHVILLE (AP) — About 240 cardinal radical were nether acold upwind advisories and wintertime tempest warnings Saturday arsenic a almighty strategy threatened to bring howling winds, flooding and dense snowfall to the East Coast — including blizzard-like conditions stemming from a “bomb cyclone” successful the Southeast, a forecaster said.

Temperatures were plummeting adjacent arsenic tens of thousands of homes and businesses remained without powerfulness from a blast of snowfall and crystal past play that snarled traffic, knocked down trees, and caused much than 100 deaths. A debased somesthesia of minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 degrees Celsius) was recorded Saturday greeting successful West Virginia, said Bob Oravec, pb meteorologist for the National Weather Service successful College Park, Maryland.

Parts of the confederate Appalachians, the Carolinas and Georgia could spot 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of snow, helium said. The Carolinas could spot blizzard conditions stemming from the weaponry cyclone, a word Oravec utilized to described an intense, rapidly strengthening tempest strategy disconnected the Southeast seashore packing beardown winds.

“Anytime you person acold upwind advisories oregon utmost acold warnings, it is unsafe to beryllium outside. Frostbite tin occur,” Oravec said. “Especially successful areas that person oregon are experiencing powerfulness issues still, prolonged vulnerability to acold upwind is not bully for yourself.”

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — whose authoritative seal is the sun, thenar trees and a seagull — 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snowfall was expected. The metropolis has nary snowfall removal equipment, and authorities planned to “use what we tin find,” Mayor Mark Kruea said.

Subfreezing upwind was forecast into February, with dense snowfall successful the Carolinas, Virginia and northeast Georgia implicit the play including up to a ft (30 centimeters) successful parts of North Carolina. Snow was besides said to beryllium imaginable from Maryland to Maine.

The frigid acold was expected to plunge arsenic acold southbound arsenic Florida.

Temperatures neared the teens (minus 10 Celsius) successful Nashville, Tennessee, and frustrations bubbled up for those who spent a week without power.

Terry Miles, a 59-year-old operation idiosyncratic whose location has had nary energy since a erstwhile tempest struck Sunday, resorted to utilizing a food fryer for vigor and disquieted astir the information of c monoxide.

“I’m taking a accidental of sidesplitting myself and sidesplitting my wife, due to the fact that — Why?” Miles said aft attending a Nashville Electric Service quality league intended to showcase the utility’s repairs connected poles and lines. He past pointed to officials.

More than 127,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, mostly successful Mississippi and Tennessee, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us. That included much than 47,000 successful Nashville arsenic of Saturday morning.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said helium shared “strong concerns” with enactment of Nashville Electric Service, adding that residents “need a wide timeline for powerfulness restoration, transparency connected the fig of linemen deployed, and a amended knowing of erstwhile enactment volition beryllium completed successful their neighborhood.”

The inferior has defended its response, saying the tempest that struck past play was unprecedented.

Mississippi officials said the monolithic wintertime tempest was its worst since 1994. About 80 warming centers were opened, and National Guard troops delivered supplies by motortruck and helicopter.

Experts warned of the increasing risks of hypothermia. Frostbite was besides a interest successful the South, wherever immoderate radical whitethorn deficiency sufficiently lukewarm clothing, said Dr. David Nestler, an exigency medicine specializer astatine the Mayo Clinic successful Minnesota.

More than 100 radical person died from Texas to New Jersey, astir fractional of them successful Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. While immoderate deaths person been attributed to hypothermia, others are suspected to beryllium related to c monoxide exposure. Officials person not released circumstantial details astir immoderate deaths.

In North Carolina, hundreds of National Guard soldiers readied to assistance and authorities workers worked to hole roads.

The metropolis of Wake Forest saw a dependable watercourse of radical filling propane tanks Friday astatine Holding Oil and Gas, including José Rosa, who arrived aft striking retired astatine 3 different places.

“I’m present successful this acold weather, and I don’t similar it,” Rosa said arsenic helium held a 20-pound (9-kilogram) tank.

In Dare County, location to overmuch of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, residents disquieted that much unoccupied houses successful communities similar Rodanthe and Buxton could illness into the Atlantic Ocean.

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Associated Press writers Jeff Martin successful Kennesaw, Georgia; Jeffrey Collins successful Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson successful Raleigh, North Carolina; Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller successful Nashville, Tennessee; Allen G. Breed successful Wake Forest, North Carolina; Sarah Brumfield successful Washington; David Fischer successful Fort Lauderdale; Devi Shastri successful Milwaukee and Hallie Golden successful Seattle contributed.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.