Significant winter storm shutters the South and cancels hundreds of flights

CNN

By Mary Gilbert, CNN Meteorologist

(CNN) — A significant winter storm is hammering the South with snow and ice, causing major travel disruptions and power outages just a day after it walloped the Plains.

The storm had already shut down the South Friday — schools and government offices were closed and states of emergency declared as it started to disrupt travel.

More than 2,600 flights in and out of the US were cancelled by late Friday morning as the storm stretched over nearly every major airport in the South, according to FlightAware.

Snow was falling over much of Tennessee Friday morning, including in Memphis and Nashville, while a mix of snow and sleet hit parts of the Southeast — including Atlanta, which has seen its biggest snow in nearly seven years.

Areas farther west got the same treatment overnight, resulting in a scene far from a winter wonderland.

More than 70,000 homes and businesses were without power in Texas and Arkansas amid freezing temperatures Friday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.

Snow has piled up in these areas since Thursday. Areas north of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro recorded up to 8 inches of snow while up to a foot fell near Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. Dallas picked up 2 to 4 inches of snow, marking this storm as the city’s biggest in four years.

Southeastern Oklahoma picked up 6 to 10 inches of snow and more than a foot fell in central Arkansas.

The sloppy weather created treacherous travel with multiple reports of jackknifed tractor trailers and stuck cars in both northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. All southbound lanes of Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma turned into a parking lot near Davis after being shut down by a crash.

In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Sanders activated the National Guard to assist stranded drivers, she said on X.

Roads were treacherous and impassible in parts of Alabama by Friday morning, according to state officials.

Several crashes and slide-offs were reported in neighboring Mississippi, according to the state’s highway patrol.

At least moderate impacts from the storm are expected in parts of the South Friday, according to the Winter Storm Severity Index. A few areas could encounter major impacts from this storm, meaning considerable disruptions to daily life and dangerous travel conditions are likely. That includes Atlanta, where icy sleet fell early Friday morning before changing over to snow.

Reports of 1 to 3 inches of snow and sleet were widespread in the Atlanta metro by mid-morning. The city will deal with mixed precipitation much of the day. Icy buildup could lead to power outages in addition to treacherous travel.

“Travel conditions will be dangerous in the Atlanta Metro this morning,” the National Weather Service warned Friday. “If you can avoid traveling, please do so!”

Any amount of ice is dangerous; just a thin layer — even a tenth of an inch — can turn paved surfaces into skating rinks, causing people to slip and vehicles to slide out of control, like what occurred over the weekend in the central US. Ice can also weigh down power lines and cause outages.

All city of Atlanta government offices are closed Friday and the city has opened multiple warming centers, according to a Wednesday news release.

Georgia officials said they learned major lessons from the infamous 2014 “Snowpocalypse” disaster that saw hundreds of cars stranded on icy Atlanta freeways.

“We got ahead of the storm,” said Gov. Brian Kemp. “It’s hard to keep up with Mother Nature, but we’re doing our best.”

About 20,000 miles of roadway were treated with brine before the first snowflake fell Friday, according to the state Department of Transportation, with more than 300 plows clearing highways.

More than 400 flights, or 40%, leaving Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were canceled by 12 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware. The airport is the busiest airport in the world based on passenger traffic and also a main hub to legacy carrier Delta Air Lines.

Snow also started to fall in Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana Friday as a storm diving south out of Canada interacted with the southern storm and pulled moisture north. Widespread amounts of 1 to 3 inches of snow are expected in Kentucky and parts of the Midwest through Friday night.

Precipitation will quickly expand east Friday night as the storm approaches the Atlantic Coast and a mix of snow and ice will reach the Carolinas and Virginia. Charlotte, North Carolina, hasn’t recorded measurable snow — at least 0.1 inch — in nearly two years but likely will break that snow drought by this weekend.

One to 3 inches of snow will also fall in the Northeast Friday night into Saturday morning.

CNNMeteorologist Brandon Miller and CNN’s Andy Rose and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.

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