Texas and Oklahoma brace for snow and ice as winter storm barrels toward eastern two-thirds of US

Texas and Oklahoma brace for snow and ice as winter storm barrels toward eastern two-thirds of US 1 of 8 | Nashville’s snow plows hit the street to treat the roads with brine in anticipation of a large winter storm expected to dump ice and snow on several states. The city has more than 40 plows, including one nicknamed after Dolly Parton. (AP Video/Kristin M. Hall) 2 of 8 | Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declares a state of emergency Thursday, covering 134 counties as the state braces for incoming winter weather. 3 of 8 | Jonathan Porter, senior vice president and chief meteorologist for AccuWeather, talks about the weekend forecast which predicts a catastrophic winter ice storm from New Mexico to the Carolinas. 4 of 8 | A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) 5 of 8 | A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) 6 of 8 | A pedestrian bundles up as she crosses a street during a cold weather day in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) 7 of 8 | Austin Felts of the Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation drives a truck deploying salt brine on roadways Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) 8 of 8 | A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) 1 of 8 Nashville’s snow plows hit the street to treat the roads with brine in anticipation of a large winter storm expected to dump ice and snow on several states. The city has more than 40 plows, including one nicknamed after Dolly Parton. (AP Video/Kristin M. Hall) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 8 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declares a state of emergency Thursday, covering 134 counties as the state braces for incoming winter weather. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 8 Jonathan Porter, senior vice president and chief meteorologist for AccuWeather, talks about the weekend forecast which predicts a catastrophic winter ice storm from New Mexico to the Carolinas. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 8 A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 8 A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 6 of 8 A pedestrian bundles up as she crosses a street during a cold weather day in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 7 of 8 Austin Felts of the Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation drives a truck deploying salt brine on roadways Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 8 of 8 A Nashville-department-of-transportation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="17148" data-entity-type="organization">Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] DALLAS (AP) — Texas and Oklahoma braced for heavy snow and ice that could make roadways treacherous Friday in what forecasters predict will be some of the initial effects of a huge, dayslong winter storm threatening catastrophic damage, extensive power outages and bitterly cold weather to the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.In the Houston area, a utility company had 3,300 employees ready to work the winter storm, while Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation pretreated highways and interstates with salt brine. Freezing rain and sleet were also expected in New Mexico as early as Friday. The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Oklahoma through Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, and then a final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 46 Celsius) in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota. Forecasters are warning the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. About 160 million people were under winter storm or cold weather watches or warnings — and in many places both. Cold air streaming down from Canada caused Chicago Public Schools and Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa to cancel classes Friday. Wind chills predicted to be as low as minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 Celsius) could cause frostbite within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The cold punch coming after means it will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weighs down tree branches and power lines and cuts electricity, perhaps for days. Roads and sidewalks could remain icy well into next week. Ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially in windy weather. Freezing temperatures are expected all the way to Florida, forecasters said. A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that won’t happen again, saying the power system “has never been stronger.”Winter storms can be notoriously tricky to forecast, with forecasters saying the places with the worst weather can’t be pinned down until the event starts.Governors in Georgia and Mississippi have declared states of emergency. In Huntsville, Alabama, employees from Jomo’s Power Equipment, Parts & Service Inc. sold dozens of generators within about a day and ordered an emergency shipment to meet customer demand.“I’d say 95% of the calls were generator-related or either service or ‘Do you have any generators in stock,’” Bryan Hill, the store’s manager, said Thursday.Lindsay Sylvester in Toney, Alabama, stocked up early in the week on bread and other supplies at her home and sent her son, who is in college, bread, gloves, candles and hand warmers.Sylvester said she went to the store early in the week because she knew supplies would be depleted close to the weekend. “A couple of people I heard talking about they had gone to Walmart and there was no milk, no bread,” she said. “All the necessities were gone.”As a precaution, North Carolina’s largest public school system prepared for potentially several days out of physical classrooms next week, telling its teachers to create three days of assignments accessible online or through paper copies.Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger told residents to prepare for days without power or the ability to leave their neighborhoods. And in a nod to the politics of the time, the newly inaugurated Democrat said people should not be scared to call 911 in an emergency just because of the immigration crackdowns going on in places like Minnesota.Arkansas Department of Transportation spokesperson Dave Parker pleaded for people to be patient and stay home if possible once the storm hits.By Thursday, airlines had canceled hundreds of flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday, including at airports in Dallas, Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma. At a busy grocery store near downtown Dallas, Kennedi Mallard and Frank Green loaded two shopping carts full of supplies into their car. They said there were some bare shelves inside.“No water, no eggs, no butter, no ground meat,” Green said.___Megnien reported from Atlanta and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers around the country contributed to this report. Collins covers South Carolina from Columbia for The Associated Press. He has been with the AP since 2000.