At least one person was killed in a winter storm system that spawned a tornado in Alabama and left wide swaths of the Mid-South glazed over Thursday.
In Hale County, Alabama, a woman died and eight others were injured after the tornado swept through the area Thursday afternoon, Hale County emergency director Russell Weeden said. Damage was reported across the county, which is about 35 miles south of Tuscaloosa.
Thursday's ice storms left roads dangerously slick and many without power across the southern portion of the country, officials said.
Western Tennessee was particularly hard hit by power outages as about 130,000 homes and businesses in Shelby County were in darkness Thursday night, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Memphis police and fire officials urged residents to stay off the roads, which have been littered with downed power lines. And Memphis Light, Gas and Water told customers not to call unless they faced a serious emergency.
An ice storm warning is in effect in Memphis through Friday and floods threatened much of the Tennessee Valley.
About 92 million Americans, from Texas to Maine, remained under winter weather warnings or advisories Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky dealt with sleet, freezing rain and snow Thursday, the impacts of which are expected to last through Friday in some areas as temperatures remain low.
Much of Texas was under a wind chill advisory, with wind chill anticipated between -5 and 5 degrees, according to the weather service in Fort Worth.
About 16,200 Texas customers were without power Thursday night, according to poweroutage.us.
It rained on much of the northeast Thursday with snow already coming down in upstate New York and New England.
Up to 18 inches of snow could fall on the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine through Friday.
Boston Public Schools and a host of other New England districts on Thursday made the decision to cancel classroom instruction for Friday.
