Winter weather: Over 60 million winter weather alerts as rain and snow hit the East Coast

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However, around 60 million people were still on winter weather warnings or warnings as of Friday morning, and around 30 million were under severe frost warning.

Slow warming can be expected in the south, but temperatures will remain well below normal until the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

A system in the northwest is expected to produce mountain rain and snow. And the NWS warns that a “cold front will produce a winter mix in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast with heavy rains that could cause flash floods in the Southeast.” But, by next week, temperatures are expected to hit the 60s and 70s.

Winter weather has killed at least 38 people across the country since February 11.

Power outages for hundreds of thousands

Electricity is still not back in many homes in Texas, where a deep frost from Sunday crippled utility power generation, sending residents scrambling for alternative heat through generators, chimneys, live in moving cars or take shelter in electric heating centers or companies.
More than 180,000 homes and businesses in Texas were still without power as of Friday morning, up from 4.5 million earlier in the week, according to PowerOutage.us.
Why water is a huge problem for Texans right now

Elsewhere in the country, about 400,000 other customers were without power as of Friday morning, including about 110,000 in Mississippi.

In Texas, power outages also wreaked havoc on the water supply, in part because frozen water pipes burst. In the homes themselves, bursting pipes have also damaged many homes and businesses.

About 13 million Texans, nearly half of the state’s population, were on a boil water advisory Thursday, according to the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Toby Baker. More than 700 water supply systems are affected.

President Joe Biden met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday and pledged that the federal government will work with state and local authorities to provide relief and meet the critical needs of families suffering from the weather conditions.

Ehren Williamson told CNN he was one of the lucky Texans after restoring his power and water for the past 24 hours. But now Williamson has to worry about finding food and clean water as he continues to be on a boil water advisory.

“We went to several HE-Bs and searched for food for about six to eight hours on Tuesday,” he told CNN by phone from Pflugerville, Texas.

Today Williamson stood in line for an hour in an HEB. Once inside the store, there was no more water to find.

“We had no warning,” he said. “We were made to feel like it wasn’t going to be bad. I didn’t even see the power failure warnings.

If he had been warned, he said he would have stocked up on food, water and a back-up generator.

Snowplows clear the roads of Barnegat Township, New Jersey.

Other states deal with snow and ice as well

Texas isn’t the only state feeling the fury of winter.

In Wayne, Pa., People scramble to try to clear the slush before it freezes, causing dangerous conditions, according to CNN affiliate 3CBS Philly. Wayne received over 10 inches of snow during the storm. And now people are worried that what is left after shoveling sidewalks and driveways will freeze and make the roads slippery.

In North Carolina, some school districts in the Piedmont Triad region are canceling classes or switching to online teaching on Friday to keep students safe, according to CNN affiliate WXII 12. A few schools are still planning to do so. have an in-person apprenticeship, but plan to start two or three hours later than usual.
And in Winston-Salem, a number of vehicles were run over in a parking lot when a tree was uprooted and fell during the ice storm on Thursday morning, WXII 12 reported.

“Well, it looked like someone had blown dynamite as it came down and just hit really hard,” resident Hope Woods told WXII 12. “We were brushing our teeth and I was like: ‘OK, I hear a lot of commotion.’ So we look out the window and there’s this giant tree crushed on all the cars. “

Repairs are underway as thousands of customers are still without power in Mississippi after an ice storm.

But, despite the difficulties facing the country, there are stories of hope.

A Philadelphia resident offers free rides to essential workers, especially those in the healthcare industry, according to CNN-affiliated WPVI. Ian Poush has driven doctors, nurses or other medical support staff who need help getting to work or home after their shift but can’t navigate icy roads.

“Your regular hospital staff who needed to be there, your maintenance staff, your security guards, they are also essential. Yes, they don’t treat patients directly, but doctors and nurses need them, ”Poush told WPVI. And he encourages others to help in their communities as well.

Workers clear snow in Huntington, West Virginia.

Warmer temperatures to come

There are still more than 25 million under a frost warning in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. But by the end of the weekend, temperatures will slowly be out of the freezing range. And by next week, they should be in the 60s and 70s.

In the northeast, more than 60 million are on winter weather alerts, but a large majority of them will expire by the end of Friday. Ice buildup is predicted in parts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And much of the northeast will see at least one to three inches of snow at the end of the storm system.

The eastern parts of the Carolinas and Georgia are under flash flood watch and expect to receive about one to two inches of rain.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford contributed to this story.

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