The National Weather Service has forecasted that with temps plummeting to -18 degrees Celsius and freezing rain in the mix, roads will turn into treacherous ice rinks as the snow hardens up, leading to some seriously slippery conditions and making driving a nightmare. Toss in those powerful winds, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Some low-lying areas are getting socked with the heaviest snowfall they’ve seen in a decade. What’s got the authorities really sweating is the potential havoc the blizzard could wreak on power grids. Power outages pose a major threat to residents who count on electricity to keep warm during this frigid onslaught. The governors of Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky have sounded the alarm, declaring states of emergency and urging their constituents to stay put indoors.
In New York and Pennsylvania, ice could pile up to over 6 feet high. Washington, D.C., is also buried under an unusually thick blanket of snow that’s snarling traffic left and right, and the confirmation process for Donald Trump in Congress got thrown off-kilter when the Republican leader in the House advised delegates to stay home.