By Chantal Da Silva -
NBC News
The strong ice storm battering the southern US is expected to finally dissipate on Thursday, but not before leaving chaos in its wake: at least eight people are suspected to have died from the storm and more than 450,000 utility customers are still without power.
"The epic ice storm in a part of the southern US will come to an end on Thursday," the National Weather Service reported.
"A system approaching the Gulf of Mexico coast will clear the icy zone, while producing torrential rains and perhaps a strong thunderstorm in the Gulf Coast states of Mexico," he added.
[For this reason the winter storm that hits the country brings a lot of cold and ice, but no snow]
However, the weather service warned that dangerous conditions for travel were still expected, with possible additional accumulation of ice, as well as the possibility of accumulations of sleet.
Tree damage and power outages are also possible before the ice begins to melt.
As of Wednesday, at least eight deaths had been linked to the storm, which battered parts of the South from Texas to Tennessee.
Seven of those fatalities occurred in the state of Texas, while another person died in Benton County, Arkansas, after the truck he was driving skidded on an icy patch and hit a pole.
Joshua Lang shovels snow from a sidewalk in a neighborhood park near his home in Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Tony Gutierrez/AP
Meanwhile, more than 400,000 utility customers in Texas were without power as of early Thursday, according to outage tracking website PowerOutage.us.
“Ice and tree limbs continue to break as our workers work on restoration,” Austin Energy tweeted Wednesday.
As of early Thursday, the company had more than 154,700 customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The company said some areas could be without power until Friday, noting restoration efforts were also being hampered by ice buildup and freezing temperatures.
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As the storm drew to a close, US flight cancellations also appeared to be on the decline after hundreds of flights were canceled this week due to bad weather.
The impressive rescue of a police dog during a tornado in Texas
Feb 1, 202300:50
As of early Thursday morning, nearly 670 flights in, in and out of the United States had been canceled, according to online flight tracking service FlightAware.
At least 257 of those cancellations were related to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, while 48 were for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
According to FlightAware, Dallas Love Field Airport experienced just under 30 cancellations.
As the severe storm system moves out over the Southeast, steady rain was likely Thursday from the lower Mississippi Valley to the southeast, creating the possibility of isolated flooding, the National Weather Service said.
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"The next impulse of arctic air to sweep across the nation of Canada is anticipated to impact the northern Plains and Upper Midwest" on Thursday, he said.
The wind chill could become "dangerously cold," she warned, and areas with fresh snow cover could also face brief white storm conditions due to the gusty winds that accompany the arctic front.
Frigid temperatures are expected to "envelop the Northeast and Northern Mid-Atlantic" by Friday, he said.
The core of the cold is expected to pass through the Northeast and, specifically, through northern New England, which could bring about the coldest weather the region has felt in decades.