CNN
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A winter storm bringing the triple threat of ice, sleet and snow Tuesday to parts of the South and central US has prompted officials to close roads and schools as they urge people to avoid traveling in dangerous conditions.
More than 40 million people from southeastern New Mexico to West Virginia are under various forms of winter weather alerts, including warnings of dangerous ice accumulations that are already making roads a nightmare, particularly in Texas. One person has already been confirmed dead in a 10-car pile-up in Austin, according to the Austin Fire Department.
Roadways across the state have been shut down as first responders fan out to help motorists: Since Monday, EMS crews in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have responded to at least 142 traffic accidents, including 16 rollover crashes, according to MedStar, a regional EMS authority. And in Austin, the fire department has responded to at least 19 traffic accidents stemming from ice on the roads since midnight, it said on Twitter early Tuesday.
“In addition to potentially hazardous travel conditions, this amount of ice will lead to tree damage and power outages across the hardest-hit regions,” the National Weather Service warned in its forecast Monday.
Cities under ice storm warnings include Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas, while a slew of Texas cities – among them Dallas, San Antonio, San Angelo and Waco – are under winter storm warnings.
Freezing rain is already being reported across the South Tuesday morning, with ice accumulations of one-tenth of an inch to three-tenths of an inch recorded in parts of Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky since Monday.
The heaviest ice accumulation is forecast across large portions of Texas, which could see one- to three-quarters of an inch through Thursday morning. One-quarter inch of ice is possible across a wider swath of the region, including southern Oklahoma, Arkansas, northwestern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee.
Here’s what to expect throughout the day:
• Oklahoma City will see brief icing Tuesday morning, while the afternoon will bring significant icing to central Texas, central Arkansas and western Tennessee.
• Texas will be dealing with widespread icy conditions, with the heaviest accumulation likely coming Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. Drivers in Dallas, San Antonio and Austin can expect dangerous conditions on roads.
• Residents in Oklahoma City are under a winter weather advisory through Wednesday afternoon, with the expectation of seeing up to two-tenths of an inch of ice.
• Icing up to two-tenths of an inch may also be seen in Louisville, Kentucky, while Charleston, West Virginia, may see sleet up to an inch and ice up to a tenth of an inch.
• The first wave of freezing rain will begin to weaken as it moves toward West Virginia by late morning.
In Texas, the governor asked the state’s emergency management division to increase its resources so it can be ready to respond through Thursday, while the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, said it expected to “meet forecasted demand” – a signal the utility, which accounts for about 90% of the state’s electricity, aims to avoid a repeat of the massive power outages that left millions freezing for days during a winter storm two years ago.
Several school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Austin are closed Tuesday and more than 400 flights departing from Texas airports have been canceled.
In Arkansas, the governor declared a state of emergency Monday and activated the winter weather support teams of the state’s National…