Charitable groups and local municipalities across Alabama are opening warming stations as temperatures plunge to the upper teens with wind chills near zero degrees. About 240 million people were under cold weather advisories and winter storm warnings Saturday as a powerful system threatened to bring howling winds, flooding and heavy snow to the East Coast — including blizzardlike conditions stemming from a “bomb cyclone” in the Southeast.
Based on current reports, the list of warming stations includes... In Anniston, Martha’s Hope: The Martha Vanderhoort Center to End Homelessness will open at 5 pm and remain available until 9 a.m. Sunday morning. Gadsden’s Dynamic Outreach on Broadway
Avenue and Salvation Army 11th Street will welcome those needing a warm place to stay. Birmingham’s Jimmie Hale Mission will be operating a shelter at Boutwell Auditorium, as well as well as Faith Chapel Care Center, and Church of the Reconciler. Tuscaloosa’s Emergency Management Agency will have a list of available warming stations at 205-349-0150.
Latest reports indicate the City of Huntsville, and its Police Department are providing free rides to and from warming centers as long as road conditions remain safe. Huntsville’s Community Warming Center The Livin’ Room on Governors Drive SW will be open, as well as First Stop on Stokes Street, Downtown Rescue Mission on Evangel Drive NW, the Salvation Army on Seminole Drive SW. The city of Leighton’s Community Shelter will be open on Main Street
Even Alabama’s Gulf coast isn’t free of the arctic overnight temperatures. Mobile County EMA is announcing seven shelters as life threatening cold closes in this evening. The Waterfront Rescue Mission on North Washington Avenue, McKemie Place (women only and a COVID test is required,) Salvation Army (men only) Dauphin Street, First Baptist Church-Chickasaw (families, men, women) on 5th Street, Dearborn YMCA (families with children and women) on North Warren Street, the City of Prichard Ronald K. Davis Safe House on Whistler Street, the City of Semmes Warming Center at the Semmes Safe Room Forest Street, (for Semmes-area residents; bring bedding, medications, food, folding chairs,) The WAVE Transit will waive fees on fixed routes for those going to shelters (request to go to Waterfront Rescue Mission, 279 North Washington Ave.) or call 2-1-1 if you need a ride. This week in the Mobile area, the city sheltered over 1,600 people with close to 5,000 meals served.
Temperatures were plummeting even as tens of thousands of homes and businesses remained without power from a blast of snow and ice last weekend that snarled traffic, knocked down trees, and caused more than 100 deaths. A low temperature of minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 degrees Celsius) was recorded Saturday morning in West Virginia, said Bob Oravec, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
Parts of the southern Appalachians, the Carolinas and Georgia could see 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of snow, he said. The Carolinas could see blizzard conditions stemming from the bomb cyclone, a term Oravec used to described an intense, rapidly strengthening storm system off the Southeast coast packing strong winds.
“Anytime you have cold weather advisories or extreme cold warnings, it is dangerous to be outside. Frostbite can occur,” Oravec said. “Especially in areas that have or are experiencing power issues still, prolonged exposure to cold weather is not good for yourself.”
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — whose official seal is the sun, palm trees and a sea gull — 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow was expected. The city has no snow removal equipment, and authorities planned to “use what we can find,” Mayor Mark Kruea said.
Subfreezing weather was forecast into February, with heavy snow in the Carolinas, Virginia and northeast Georgia over the weekend including up to a foot (30 centimeters) in parts of North Carolina. Snow was also said to be possible from Maryland to Maine.
The frigid cold was expected to plunge as far south as Florida.
Temperatures neared the teens (minus 10 Celsius) in Nashville, Tennessee, and frustrations bubbled up for those who spent a week without power.
More than 127,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, mostly in Mississippi and Tennessee, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us. That included more than 47,000 in Nashville as of Saturday morning.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he shared “strong concerns” with leadership of Nashville Electric Service, adding that residents “need a clear timeline for power restoration, transparency on the number of linemen deployed, and a better understanding of when work will be completed in their neighborhood.”
The utility has defended its response, saying the storm that struck last weekend was unprecedented.
Mississippi officials said the massive winter storm was its worst since 1994. About 80 warming centers were opened, and National Guard troops delivered supplies by truck and helicopter.
Experts warned of the growing risks of hypothermia. Frostbite was also a concern in the South, where some people may lack sufficiently warm clothing, said Dr. David Nestler, an emergency medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
More than 100 people have died from Texas to New Jersey, roughly half of them in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. While some deaths have been attributed to hypothermia, others are suspected to be related to carbon monoxide exposure. Officials have not released specific details about some deaths.
In North Carolina, hundreds of National Guard soldiers readied to help and state workers worked to prepare roads.
The city of Wake Forest saw a steady stream of people filling propane tanks Friday at Holding Oil and Gas, including José Rosa, who arrived after striking out at three other places.
