A Once-in-a-generation Winter Storm is Sweeping Through the South, as Much of US Deals With Frigid Temperatures

Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts, as a rare winter storm brings bone-chilling temperatures and potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh cold weather.

Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts, as a rare winter storm brings bone-chilling temperatures and potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh cold weather.

In Texas, temperatures dropped to below freezing Monday night as winter weather began across the state.

Snow showers broadened in the early hours of Tuesday and could ramp up throughout the morning – with one inch an hour expected to fall, mixed with freezing rain and sleet.

The National Weather Service on Monday described the sweeping system as “a generational winter storm event,” and urged those along its path to take its impact seriously.

Travel overnight and Tuesday will be “extremely hazardous if not impossible for much of the area, and travel is highly discouraged,” the service said.

The Texas snowfall is expected to shift east to New Orleans Tuesday morning before spreading to parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and the western Florida Panhandle throughout the day, where snowfall totals are projected to break records not observed since at least 1963 and possibly rivaling records from the late 1800s.

The rare winter storm comes as more than 220 million people across 40 states in the continental United States are affected by bitterly cold air, with the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains likely to experience wind chill temperatures as low as 55 degrees below zero.

These temperatures, if exposed to skin, can cause hypothermia in as little as 5 minutes.

Officials in affected states in the South cautioned people to stay off the roads, keep faucets dripping to prevent pipes from freezing, check batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and refrain from using cooking stoves to heat homes.

These precautions, however, are more familiar to people living in northern states and not down south, where unusually cold conditions could place a strain on infrastructure and resources.

“Most of us haven’t experienced this combination of bitter cold and significant snow ever in our lifetime,” Louisiana climatologist Jay Grymes said Monday.

Southern cities like Houston, Atlanta, Jackson, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee, could also observe highs below freezing on Tuesday, putting pressure on pipes that could freeze and burst.

Ahead of the winter storm, Houston’s mayor John Whitmire on Sunday urged residents to protect their water pipes, noting the city’s water system is already “fragile” with more than 1,000 active water leaks in Houston.

“Let me emphasize the preparation of your pipes,” Whitmire said. “Wrap your pipes if all possible.”

Governors in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have declared states of emergency, while Texas authorities have directed state agencies to mobilize resources for the rare snowfall.

Arkansas has sent to Louisiana 12 dump trucks with snowplows, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said Monday during a news conference about storm preparations.

“This is the time when you can cook you a big pot of gumbo,” Landry said.

Air and road travel halted; more schools shut down

Forecasters say the Interstate 10 corridor could see possible snowfall totals of 3 to 6 inches, which would further paralyze travel on roads for several days.

There were more than 1,700 flight cancellations within, into or out of the US early Tuesday, with most of those flights coming from Texas and Louisiana, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Houston’s two major airports, George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby will close Tuesday, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest, is pretreating roadways and airfield surfaces in preparation for the winter weather, according to spokesperson Andrew Gobeil.

“The Emergency Operations Center will activate at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning and will remain operational throughout the event,” Gobeil said Monday. “Passengers are urged to arrive in the airport at least two and a half hours prior to domestic departure times unless otherwise directed by their airlines.”

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston said it will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to the extreme weather. Port Houston said its facilities will be closed on Tuesday as well.

Schools are closed in several states including Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest school district in Georgia, has moved all its classes online. While the Houston Independent School District, the largest in the Lonestar state and the eighth largest in the country, will also be closed until Wednesday, Whitmire said.

Several DC-area schools have issued closures and delayed openings for Tuesday, including Fairfax County Public Schools –– among the largest counties in Virginia.

In Florida, where schools rarely shut due to winter weather, dozens of K-12 schools and state universities will close on Tuesday.

Source: cnn.com