Massive winter storm barrels toward the South

Forecasters warn ice could cause extensive power outages that would affect millions.

- By EMILIE MEGNIEN, JEFFREY COLLINS AND JAMIE STENGLE

VOLUNTEERS prepare cots at a shelter Friday before the storm at Fair Parks Automobile Building in Dallas.

(MARK FELIX Bloomberg)

It was too cold for school in Chicago and other Midwestern cities Friday as a huge, days-long winter storm began to crank up that could bring snow, sleet, ice and bone-chilling temperatures as well as extensive power outages to about half the U.S. population, from Texas to New England.

Forecasters warned that the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. At least 177 million people were under watches or warnings for ice and snow and more than 200 million were under cold weather advisories or warnings. In many places they overlapped. Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

Maricela Resendiz picked up chicken, eggs and pizzas at a store Friday to get her, her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend through the weekend.

“It’s going to be a big storm,” she said, adding her weekend plans are “staying in, just being out of the way.”

Ice and snow was expected to begin falling later Friday in Texas and Oklahoma. The storm was expected to slide into the South with freezing rain and sleet. Then it will move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the National Weather Service predicted.

Boston declared a cold emergency through the weekend with wind chills predicted to dip well below zero.