Frozen Fury: Southern US Faces Travel Chaos and School Shutdowns Amid Winter Storm

Flight cancellations mounted, and state authorities cautioned about ongoing hazardous road conditions on Saturday following a winter storm that shut down schools and disrupted travel in portions of the southern US.

A storm that delivered biting cold and wet snow to the south was shifting out to sea off the eastern coastline on Saturday, leaving a forecast of snow flurries in the Appalachian mountains and New England. However, temperatures are anticipated to drop significantly after sunset on Saturday in the south, increasing the likelihood that melting snow may refreeze, rendering roads treacherous and coated in ice.

“I certainly don’t believe everything’s going to completely thaw,” said Scott Carroll, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Atlanta. “Particularly the secondary roads will likely still retain some slush on them.”

While major thoroughfares were largely clear, few individuals ventured outside early on Saturday. The Atlanta Hawks postponed their professional basketball game scheduled for Saturday afternoon against the Houston Rockets, citing icy conditions.

Significant airports, including Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to experience disruptions on Saturday. Although flights were functioning, airlines canceled and delayed additional flights after Friday’s weather caused airline travel to slow drastically. By noon on Saturday, over 300 flights in and out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had been canceled, while almost 500 more experienced delays, according to the tracking service FlightAware. Additionally, over 200 flights in and out of Charlotte had been canceled, with nearly 200 others running behind schedule.

Delta Air Lines, the primary carrier at the Atlanta airport, announced late on Friday that it was “endeavoring to recover” on Saturday, noting that cancellations would be most severe among morning flights due to crews and aircraft not being where they should have been after the airline scrapped 1,100 flights on Friday.

In the meantime, Richmond, Virginia, lifted its boil-water advisory late on Saturday morning, nearly a week after Monday’s snowstorm knocked out power and caused a malfunction in the city’s water infrastructure.

The mayor, Danny Avula, stated that lab results confirmed Richmond’s water was safe for consumption, adding that boil-water advisories had also been rescinded for some nearby counties.

The temporary suspension of the water system impacted over 200,000 individuals, some of whom had no water in their residences due to reduced pressure. The state’s legislature had also postponed the start of its session due to this issue.

Freezing rain caused electrical outages for over 110,000 customers in Georgia on Friday evening, but most power had been restored by Saturday. The NWS reported ice accumulation of 0.1-0.25in (0.25-0.6cm) around Atlanta from the freezing rain, which turned out to be less severe than anticipated. However, Carroll from the NWS indicated that high winds on Saturday could still pose dangers where ice had formed.

Certain areas of mountainous western North Carolina experienced up to 4.5in (approximately 11cm) of snow within a 24-hour span that concluded at 7am on Saturday, according to the NWS. Parts of central Tennessee recorded nearly 6in (about 15cm) of snow by Saturday morning.

Earlier in the week, the storm brought substantial snowfall and slick roads to a significant portion of Texas and Oklahoma prior to traveling eastward. Arkansas and North Carolina deployed national guard units for operations such as aiding stranded motorists, and governors proclaimed states of emergency.

School was canceled on Friday for millions of children from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina, providing them a rare snow day. Officials in northern Alabama indicated on Saturday that schools could remain closed on Monday if ice did not thaw from secondary roads.

The storm resulted in a snow accumulation exceeding a year’s worth in certain cities, including Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee.

The polar vortex of extremely cold air typically rotates around the North Pole, but it occasionally drifts southward into the US, Europe, and Asia. Some experts suggest that such occurrences are becoming more common, paradoxically, as a result of a warming planet.

The cold snap coincided with unusual January wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area.