Undercooled rain that has frozen into ice when it landed on trees and roads has caused an ice storm that has torn down trees and power lines around the Great Lakes.
Both Ontario in Canada and Michigan and Wisconsin in the USA have been affected.
We have received many calls about trees and branches that have fallen, some of them have hit infrastructure such as houses or power lines, says meteorologist Kristina Kretchman to public service company CBC.
In Ontario, the police are advising against unnecessary travel on the slippery roads, and in the USA, the meteorological authority NWS's local office in Michigan is warning of an ice layer of up to three centimeters, reports news agency AP.
Further south, over 80 million Americans are threatened by winter storms, hail showers, and tornadoes, writes USA Today.
The bad weather is expected to affect large parts of the Midwest, from the Chicago area down to Oklahoma and Texas – areas that have already been hit by extreme weather in recent weeks.
"Plan your day well, be prepared if warnings are issued for your area", writes NWS on X.
