Winter’s Wrath: Southern Storms Disrupt Travel Plans

A significant combination of snow and sleet on Friday swept through sections of the South unaccustomed to winter conditions, resulting in flight cancellations, school closures, and official advisories to refrain from road travel if possible.

A warning for winter storms extended from eastern Oklahoma to Virginia, as reported by the National Weather Service, with a blend of snow and freezing rain affecting cities like Jackson, Miss.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Atlanta.

Certain areas of western Arkansas received over a foot of snowfall, with substantial accumulation persisting from the prior day. From Friday to Saturday, regions within the Mid-Atlantic, the Ohio Valley, and the Northeast could expect one to five inches of snowfall.

By Friday afternoon, snow had substantially ceased in Georgia, leaving freezing rain as the primary concern for the remainder of the day. Snowfall persisted across Tennessee as the storm advanced toward the Mid-Atlantic. Light to moderate snow was anticipated in the Mid-Atlantic region as the storm progressed across Georgia and South Carolina on Friday evening, and a wintry mix was expected over the North Carolina coastal area. Most winter weather was predicted to clear from the East Coast by sunrise on Saturday, or shortly thereafter.

The extensive blend of wintry precipitation resulted in the cancellation of over 2,000 flights both into and out of airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, and Charlotte, N.C., on Friday.

At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where nearly 60 percent of outbound flights were canceled or delayed, a ground stop was enacted for all incoming Delta flights on Friday after an unsuccessful takeoff necessitated the evacuation of Delta passengers onto the snowy runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A Delta representative stated that four individuals received treatment for minor injuries and noted that there was “no indication of weather contributing to the engine issue.”

Spencer Reeve, 42, a marketer of board games, who had a 12:40 p.m. Delta flight to Los Angeles departing from Atlanta, remarked that the atmosphere at the airport rapidly shifted from “relaxing” to “frustrating” following the implementation of the ground stop. “It’s just a series of cancellations and delays at this moment,” he expressed.

Andrew Gobeil, a spokesperson for the airport, later mentioned that at least two runways were operational.

The icy and snowy mixture made roads and highways perilous across a broad region of the South. In northern Mississippi, the state’s Emergency Management Agency reported numerous accidents on ice and snow-coated roads.

A portion of Interstate 22 in Mississippi and Alabama was closed due to an accident in Marshall County, located in north-central Mississippi. In northern Alabama, many roads were covered in ice and impassable, according to Jim Stefkovich, a meteorologist with the state’s Emergency Management Agency, who noted in a statement.

“If you intend to drive, don’t,” cautioned Georgia’s Governor, Brian P. Kemp, during a press conference on Friday, warning that temperatures hovering near freezing would likely render roads hazardous through Sunday.

Accumulation of snow and ice in North Georgia was increasingly making roads dangerous, he indicated.

In Atlanta, most businesses and eateries were closed. The city appeared to have learned from past experiences, having previously faced chaos in 2014 when less than three inches of snow resulted in stranded drivers, children stuck in buses and officials scrambling to address the situation.

At that time, Governor Nathan Deal publicly apologized for the government’s response, leading to the resignation of his emergency management chief. When forecasters anticipated a similar storm a few weeks later, Mr. Deal closed the city government and urged businesses to follow suit.

Andre Dickens, previously a city council member and now Atlanta’s mayor, expressed confidence in the city’s preparedness for the storm this time. “The only 911 calls we’re receiving are from individuals attempting to drive on steep back roads,” he mentioned. “They are colliding with mailboxes, poles, and parked cars due to the hilly terrain in Atlanta, and there’s a lack of snow tires.”

The city and state appeared better equipped this time around. Officials urged residents to remain indoors, and highways and city streets were treated with salt prior to the storm. The roads were nearly deserted on Friday — with only occasional skiers or sledders — as the morning snow melted into slush by noon.

One notable exception to the closures was Waffle House. Benji Waugh, a patron, recognized that the famed resilient diner would remain operational.

“In the South, every time there’s a hurricane, tornado, or any storms, everything shuts down,” he noted in an interview at the Waffle House across from Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. “But you can always count on Waffle House to be open.”

Governor Kemp proclaimed a state of emergency on Thursday in preparation for the storm, similarly to his counterparts in Tennessee and Arkansas. While Tennessee is accustomed to winter storms, certain regions, like Memphis, could see their highest two-day snow totals in four decades. Several areas of the state continue to recover from Hurricane Helene, which passed through as a tropical storm in September. Reports indicated six inches of snow in Memphis by 11 a.m. Eastern, according to the Weather Service.

Throughout North Carolina, accumulations of snow and ice might cause extensive power outages, emergency management officials warned.

By midday on Friday, up to 1.5 inches of snow had covered the mountainous region of Cherokee County, in western North Carolina. The storm was on schedule to progress eastward through Saturday morning. “We expect a relatively swift-moving storm; we hope it won’t be too severe here,” stated Brian Haines, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety.

Unusually cold conditions across the East Coast are expected to persist into the following week.