0 place. you can get my whole take on this topic, making america a more healthy place, at cnnhealth.com. go there. let me hear from you as well. got much more news now with deb feyerick in the "cnn newsroom." you are here with us in the "cnn newsroom," hello, everyone, i'm deborah feyerick. well, this weekend across several states winter came early and winter came hard. in just 24 hours temperatures went from springlike to below freezing in texas, oklahoma, arkansas, and tennessee. and we're not talking about the fluffy stuff, the sleds and snowball kind of thing, we are talking about sleet and frozen slush and high wind that is making driving incredibly dangerous and knockouts of power all over the place. central arkansas was 75 degrees earlier this week, it will not be above freezing at all this weekend. oklahoma, all counties are under a state of emergency today, more than 7,500 homes have no electricity, and the red cross churches and community groups are opening kitchens and shelters and warming centers all across the state. memphis, tennessee, was supposed to host a marathon today. why not? it should have been in the mid-50s. our indra peterson is there, and, indra, the race is canceled. how are people coping? and how much longer is this cold snap going to last in memphis? >> reporter: you know, we wish we had better news because this cold, arctic blast is here and there's a whole nother punch expected overnight tonight with another round of freezing rain. we had the marathon canceled, 20,000 people were expected to be here today for that marathon and some people decided to make the trek anyways. just take a listen what it felt like trying to drive into the city. >> we had an exciting ride down. took us nine hours, which is normally a four- to five-hour trip. window wipers icing up. lines down over the highway on 55. it was closed for a time. and winter everything from ice to snow. it was a -- it was a journey. >> reporter: so, just for that reason you can tell that right when people were trying to drive in or drive out is the second wave of the ice storm is expected tonight, would have been very dangerous and the exact reason they did have to cancel the marathon. on the other side of it are these freezing temperatures that we're talking about. with the windchill this morning it was in the single digits, as we start to cool off again tonight, we'll get another round of freezing rain that will be a concern. and many people without power, yesterday about 5,000, and today it's 500 people, but with another round overnight tonight there's a potential for even more people to lose power and many people saw half an inch of freezing rain in west memphis that's what they saw and north of us in arkansas, over an inch of ice has been seen on the power lines so the threat of even more ice expected overnight tonight, it's the last thing people want with these cold temperatures expected to last at here for at least a week. >> the couple you interviewed, i'm not sure i would have kept going. the downed power lines are really dangerous, plus the ice makes them so heavy. what was the statistic you quoted earlier? >> reporter: what we were talking about earlier, half an inch of ice on the power line that weighs 500 pounds so that's the concern. it really doesn't take that much and the entire city can shut down sometimes for weeks. >> yeah, beautiful but deadly. okay, thanks, indra, appreciate that. >> reporter: sure. the line of bitter cold of ice and sleet is headed to the eastern seaboard, those in new york city and boston, you better get ready. alexandra steele is in the cnn weather center with the where and the when. what can we expect >> hi, good evening to you. this ice show, it's tomorrow, but it's a little bit different than what we saw yesterday. it is farther east and on the upside, temperatures will be a lot warmer the next day, the day after our ice storm, which is monday, they'll be in the 40s, so we're not going to see that ice sit. we are going to see it melt. here's the timeline. tomorrow by 11:00 you can see beginning to make its way toward the mid-atlantic, in washington. snow gets there by noon, and then it moves farther north in toward new york and certainly long island by sunday night and by monday it all moves toward new england. but the balance of the east gets into the 40s, so that certainly is better news in terms of how much ice and how long that ice lasts. so, here's the timeline for places like washington, they do have a winter storm watch posted for tomorrow. in the morning by 11:00 or 12:00, it will start as snow and sleet and then in the afternoon like we're going to see a lot of the places, it will change over to freezing rain and sleet, so on the whole maybe 1 to 2 inches of snow and potentially a quarter of an inch of ice coming, difficult driving for the day especially tomorrow afternoon in washington and tomorrow night. in philadelphia, it will begin in the afternoon. we'll see it start as snow and sleet, and then again during the nighttime, we're going to see it change over to rain. on the whole maybe an inch of snow and sleet combination, and then in toward new york city. it's really a late sunday night affair, potentially starting as snow, changing over to sleet and then changing over to rain. maybe up to an inch of snow and sleet. so, here's the good news, though, this is the monday time frame temperature. 47 in new york. 43 in washington, and 43 as well. so, deb, we are going to see some ice mixing with snow, but then we're not going to see it last certainly as long as we've seen it from dallas to memphis with the last ice storm. >> all right, so a little bit of relief there come monday. all right, alexandra steele for us, thank you so much. >> sure, yeah. well, more than 200,000 people are without power in the de dallas, texas, area, and that's where we find cnn's ed lavandera. ed, how are people coping? they were expecting this. >> reporter: the good news today we haven't seen freezing rain or sleet falling here in clyde warren park in downtown dallas or across any parts of north texas, but the problem is temperatures haven't gotten above freezing. so, thick layers of ice like this are everywhere. it's a nightmare of ice, sleet, and wicked cold. this winter storm has inspired the most haunting descriptions, north texas ghost towns left entombed in ice. trees encased by freezing rain are buckling under the sheer weight of the ice, bringing down power lines and leaving more than 250,000 homes without power across dallas-ft. worth. crews are trying to salvage the lines that are still working and the roadways are a hazardous mess. >> go slowly. watch out for the person in front of you and make sure that you are ready for the road conditions ahead of you. >> reporter: there have been hundreds of accidents across the region. cars slipping and sliding off roadways. four people in texas, oklahoma, and new mexico were killed in weather-related crashes. a man died saturday when his truck slid off interstate 35 and plunged into a lake. firefighters dove into the frigid waters to rescue him but couldn't get him out in time. on this lake north of dallas, the ice crushed this marina crashing the roof onto boats floating underneath and the winter storm has canceled more than 2,000 flights across the region, including about 50% of the flights scheduled to depart dfw airport on saturday. just two days ago this same area was basking in the glow of 80-degree weather. but it all dispeerappeared in a matter of hours, after the sun went down, the polar express arctic blast swooping in leaving behind layers of ice and unkring sounds of slush. so, right about now you probably wish you could escape the frigid temperatures by jumping into that "back to the future delorean" taking a trip back in time. you actually don't need to go back too far, just a few hours, 3:52 on a wednesday afternoon in downtown dallas. a beautiful day for a walk in the park, sunglasses on, not a cloud in the sky. ed lavandera from the past is here to tell you that everything will be okay. you will be warm once again in the future. i hope. most schools and businesses shut down on friday. the dallas marathon and holiday parade were also canceled, the first time those events have been called off. but still quite a few ventured outside. >> whoa. >> reporter: better to slip and slide on a hillside than on the highway. it will take several days for temperatures to rebound and for the ice to melt away. and this is the frustrating thing for residents here in north texas and oklahoma and arkansas is that it will take some time for these temperatures to get above freezing so that the ice can melt away. we're being told that forecasters are saying that perhaps it could be late sunday, maybe even into monday before the temperatures get above freezing again. debor deborah? >> all right, ed lavandera, we like the one from the past, thanks, eddie. well, coming up next -- >> reporter: i'm dan simon in palo alto, california, the yellow ribbons are up after 85-year-old merrill newman was released by the north korean government. we'll have that story coming up. and now my journey across the country has brought me to the lovely city of boston. cheers. and seeing as it's such a historic city, i'm sure they'll appreciate that geico's been saving people money for over 75 years. oh... dear, i've dropped my tea into the boston harbor. huhh... i guess this party's over. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i'm here to say a few words about the power of baking stuff with nestle toll house morsels. you can heal a broken heart with a bundt cake. make a monday mornin' feel like a friday afternoon with some nestle toll house morsels. let's close our laptops and open our ovens. these things don't bake themselves. we have to bake them for one another. we can bake the world a better place one toll house cookie at a time. nestle. good food, good life. did you try restarting it? 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