A historic winter storm swept across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and icy conditions to the Southeast, while most of the country faced dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.
Winter storm warnings remained in effect on Wednesday in eight states from Louisiana to Virginia. A blizzard warning was issued for the first time along parts of Louisiana’s coast. Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue Wednesday from Florida to North Carolina.
According to CNN, at least nine fatalities have been reported as a result of the storm and extreme cold. Five people died in a crash due to icy road conditions in Zavala County, Texas, authorities said.
Record snowfall in several states
According to the National Weather Service’s preliminary snow totals, parts of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida saw decades-old records fall:
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New Orleans received 8 inches of snow, shattering its previous record of 2.7 inches, set in 1963
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Mobile, Ala., recorded 7.5 inches, surpassing its previous record of 3.6 inches, set in 1973
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Pensacola, Fla., recorded 7.6 inches, breaking its previous high of 2.3 inches, set in 1954
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And Milton, Fla., recorded 8.8 inches, more than doubling the previous statewide snow record of 4 inches, also set in Milton, in 1954
The storm has made travel treacherous, especially along the I-10 corridor.
“Major highway and air traffic disruptions, including road closures and flight cancellations, remain a concern, including for areas further west along the Gulf Coast where snow has already come to an end,” the weather service warned Wednesday. “These travel impacts may linger for several days given the historic heavy accumulations combined with frigid temperatures, as well as the lack of equipment for clearing roads compared to areas further north more accustomed to this amount of snowfall.”
What’s been affected so far?
According to FlightAware, there were more than 1,500 flight cancellations within, into or out of the United States early Wednesday, with most originating in Texas and Louisiana.
Houston’s two major airports, George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby, were closed Tuesday. NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in Houston, said it will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Blizzard conditions prompted the closures of several major roads and bridges Tuesday, including the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans.
Hundreds of schools from Texas to Virginia, including dozens in Florida’s Panhandle, were closed on Tuesday.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 120,000 power outages were reported across four states due to the storm early Wednesday, including more than 47,000 in Georgia and more than 42,000 in northern Florida.
Arctic blast brings bone-chilling cold
Meanwhile, nearly 220 million people across 40 states face brutally cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills from an arctic air mass that has settled over a large swath of the country.
“Frigid temperatures remain in place more broadly from the Rockies to the East Coast,” the weather service said. “Forecast highs Wednesday generally range from the teens and 20s for the Midwest and the Northeast, the 20s and 30s in the Rockies, and the 30s and 40s from the central/southern Plains east through the Southeast. Wind chills of 20 to 30 degrees below zero are forecast at times across the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Sub-zero wind chills will continue from the central Plains eastward across the Ohio Valley and northern Mid-Atlantic.”
“Any power outages across the Gulf Coast and Southeast due to the winter storm will exacerbate the threat from the cold for these areas,” it added.
What’s next?
The rare southern storm will move offshore Wednesday morning, weather service forecasters said. Behind it, arctic air will continue encompassing the eastern two-thirds of the nation “with only a slow return to normal temperatures expected by the end of the week.”
