Residents of the Pacific Northwest suffered through more misery as an ice storm bore down on the region Wednesday, threatening to make mountain highways treacherous and zap power in bitterly cold temperatures.
Much of the region was under an ice storm warning through the morning, threatening to add to the damage wrought by a powerful winter storm that hit the region over the weekend.
Parts of southwest Washington and western Oregon — including the latter’s largest cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene — were expecting to see a quarter-inch to an inch of ice, while freezing rain was forecast in the Seattle area.
Schools were closed in many places, bus service was curtailed and warming shelters were opened as officials warned of continued treacherous road conditions and the chance of new power outages. Crews struggled to restore electricity to thousands who have been under blackout for days.
The forecast came as much of the U.S. coped with bitter weather that in some places put electricity supplies at risk. Another day of record cold temperatures swept much of the Rockies, Great Plains and Midwest on Tuesday, with wind chills below minus 30 degrees extending into the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Freezing temperatures spread as far south as North Florida on Wednesday morning, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. It was 12 degrees early Wednesday in Atlanta, where thousands of students were just returning to school after several of Georgia’s largest school systems closed Tuesday as icy weather threatened the region.
It was 5 degrees in Chicago and 6 degrees in Detroit, making both cities significantly colder than Alaska’s capital, Juneau, where it was 18 degrees.
On the East Coast, meanwhile, New York and Philadelphia ended a drought of sorts with enough snow falling for play in both cities.
Five people were struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 in northeastern Pennsylvania after they left their vehicles following a crash on slick pavement. Investigators were still determining the exact cause.
Heavy lake-effect snow was forecast in Buffalo, N.Y., with up to 4 inches an hour expected through the afternoon. Buffalo’s City Hall was closed Wednesday, and dozens of school districts declared snow days. Travel bans were issued for several suburban towns. The winter blast comes days after a major storm that delayed an NFL playoff game for a day.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides electricity in seven states, asked customers to voluntarily cut back, citing a high demand for power because of the cold. A similar plea came from the grid operator in Texas. More than 90,000 customers lost power Wednesday across a swath of the South, from Texas to Alabama and Tennessee.
In Oregon, transportation officials closed 47 miles of Interstate 84, a major east-west highway that runs from Portland through the Columbia River Gorge, because of the threat of ice.
In the mountains, the National Weather Service warned of heavy snow in the Cascades with winds gusting to 50 mph, mixed with freezing rain and ice that could make travel “very difficult to impossible.” A storm warning was up through Thursday afternoon.
More than 86,000 customers lacked power in Oregon early Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.
The Pacific Northwest is more known for rain and wasn’t set to experience such arctic temperatures, but the heavily forested region is especially prone to falling trees and power lines, particularly during ice storms.
“We’re lucky to be alive,” Justin Brooks said as he used a chainsaw Tuesday to cut up the trunks of two massive trees that narrowly missed his home in Lake Oswego, Ore., when they fell Saturday.
Elsewhere in Lake Oswego on Tuesday, arborist Ryan Cafferky scaled a towering 150-foot tree to start the laborious process of cutting it down. The city had deemed the 120-year-old tree a threat to the public because it was at risk of toppling, he said.
In the Portland metropolitan area, some two dozen commuter buses had suspended service or were being rerouted to avoid dangerous roads since storms walloped the area a few days ago.
Weekend weather that included snow and strong winds was blamed for at least seven deaths, including that of a man killed when a tree struck his house in Lake Oswego and a woman who died when a tree crushed a recreational vehicle in Portland, trapping her and causing a fire, authorities said. Five people in Oregon were believed to have died of hypothermia, authorities said.
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Warmer air was expected to provide some relief from the frigid weather starting later Wednesday.
However, the icy morning forecast prompted Portland Public Schools, the largest district in the state, to cancel classes for a second day Wednesday, citing concerns over possible power problems, burst pipes and unsafe school walkways and parking lots.
Beaverton School District also canceled Wednesday classes, noting that some buildings still lacked power and heat.
Courts, libraries and parks were also closed in Portland and other parts of Multnomah County.
County officials extended a weather state of emergency until noon Wednesday and decided to keep a record 12 overnight emergency weather shelters open for an additional night. Officials issued an urgent call for volunteers, citing the high demand for shelter services in an area where thousands of people live outside at risk of exposure to the cold.
“The real limitation for us right now is staffing,” said Dan Field, director of the joint county-city homelessness office. “We have to have enough people to keep the doors open of the emergency shelters.”