WEATHER TROUBLES * USA - Major winter storm could impact travel along Interstate 40 corridor

(Image Courtesy AccuWeather: This map shows where the storm will impact travel Thursday)

Oklahoma City,OK,USA -The Trucker News Services -27 Jan 2010: -- Weather forecasters say a storm rolling out of the Four Corners region today with snow, ice and rain is set to disrupt lives and travel from the southern Plains to the mid-South and the mid-Atlantic over the balance of the week... According to AccuWeather, the combination of the snow, ice and in some cases plunging temperatures following the rain will make untreated roads and sidewalks extremely treacherous... Where the freezing rain persists for an extended period of time, downed trees and utility lines will result in lengthy power outages. Winds gusting between 30 and 40 mph will add to this problem... During Friday night and Saturday, the winter storm will spread its substantial snow and ice eastward across Kentucky, Tennessee and the central East Coast states...


* Heavy snow, ice bury southern Plains, cut power

Oklahoma City,OK,USA -AP –29 Jan 2010: -- A storm that toppled power lines, closed major highways and buried parts of the southern Plains in heavy ice and snow began moving into the South on Friday, leaving tens of thousands of people in the dark — possibly for several more days... Winter storm warnings were in effect from New Mexico to North Carolina, and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe declared a state of emergency. The storm threatened to dump up to a foot of snow across the region after leaving 13 inches in the northern Texas Panhandle, where nearly all of Interstate 40 from the Texas-Oklahoma line to New Mexico was closed... The snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to crawl east through Friday. Up to a foot of snow was expected in Arkansas near the Missouri state line, northern Tennessee near the Kentucky and Virginia borders and western North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service... More snow also was expected in Texas and Oklahoma... (Photo from AP – Vehicles travel in white out conditions caused by blowing snow on Interstate 80 west of Omaha, Neb)