Weekend weather forecast to be dangerous for much of the United States

Winter is blowing over the country, with extreme weather forecasts on both coasts while much of the center of the country faces extremely cold temperatures.

Large swathes of the United States are warned of weekend conditions. Nearly 90 million people were on winter weather alert or worse.

“While a cold arctic air mass remains in place over much of the country, winter precipitation will bring dangers to the Pacific Northwest, the Southern Plains, the Mississippi Valley to the River Valley. Ohio and the mid-Atlantic to the northeast this weekend at least early. Next week. Temperatures will remain 20 to 40 degrees below normal in the center of the country on Saturday, “the Weather Service said Friday evening. national.

The governors of Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana have declared emergencies in their states ahead of a storm that is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and rain.

The National Weather Service has warned of extremely cold temperatures and near-blizzard-like conditions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where six people were killed Thursday in a stack of 130 treatments on an icy highway.

The forecast was for up to 6 inches of snow and wind chills to 15 degrees below freezing.

In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, officials urged residents to prepare for icy roads and up to inches of snow throughout the weekend and beyond. “Wherever you are on Sunday night, you should be prepared to stay there at least until Tuesday,” county officials said.

A polar plunge that gripped much of the Midwest for days on Friday is expected to linger for much of next week.

In Kansas City, Missouri, the high was 8 degrees on Friday, and forecasters warned it would drop as low as -20, with wind chill taken into account, over the weekend.

The intensifying cold snap in the southern plains is so dangerous that the National Weather Service’s office in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has warned residents of be aware of signs of hypothermia and freezing.

“If you have any heated shelters you need right now, now is the time to get them ready,” the office said in a freezing cold situation report.

“A near-stationary front at the leading edge of the cold air mass will remain over the southeast until Sunday evening,” the weather service said in a discussion of the forecast Friday.

The Pacific Northwest started to see more snow and freezing rain Friday afternoon after snowfall in parts of Washington and Oregon on Thursday.

The Weather Service issued an ice storm warning on Friday for the central Willamette Valley in Oregon, including Salem and for the southern Portland subway, and a winter storm warning for the Portland / Vancouver, Washington areas . After 5 p.m., freezing rain began to fall in places around the Portland metro area, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said.

Forecasters said the Portland area could see up to 8 inches of snow and the Cascades could get an extra foot until Saturday.

A winter storm warning is also in effect for the greater Seattle area, where 2 to 8 inches of snow was expected with winds gusting to 40 mph. A winter storm warning for the Olympia, Washington area predicted up to another foot of snow on Saturday after that city received more than 6 inches in places on Thursday.

The weekend would also bring harsh winter conditions to the mid-Atlantic, where an ice storm was forecast.

The Washington, DC area has been subject to an advisory, and Baltimore residents are bracing for an ice storm, with power outages and tree damage.

“Traveling could be nearly impossible” from Saturday night to Sunday morning, the National Weather Service warned.

The Associated Press contributed.