Freezing rain hit Oklahoma on Friday at the start of what forecasters say could be a brutal ice storm.

Millions of people in the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and eastern Missouri are being warned that conditions will deteriorate Friday afternoon and the storm could spread as far east as Ohio and New York over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

"This is a one-in-maybe-15-to 25-year event," CNN severe weather expert Chad Myers said Friday of the forecast freezing rain, sleet and snow.

Freezing rain was also forecast for southeast Kansas into central Missouri Friday and is expected to hit I-44 by late Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

Ice up to three-quarters of an inch will be likely by Saturday morning, and some parts could see ice accumulations of an inch and a half by Sunday, all of which could mean widespread power outages, the weather service said.

Temperatures in the week ahead will have highs in the 20s and lows in the teens and possibly single digits, the weather service added, according to AP.

In addition to the central U.S., a cold snap also was predicted this weekend for California, where farmers were preparing to monitor the health of a nearly $1 billion citrus crop, The Associated Press reported.