A bitter winter storm system that has held the Midwest in its grip reaches into the Deep South Tuesday, bringing rare threats of snow and ice from South Texas to Virginia An SUV ventures past the St. Augusta, Minn., city limits sign in near white-out conditions during the weekend.(Photo: Kimm Anderson. St. Cloud Times, AP)
A bitterly cold winter storm roared into the Deep South Tuesday, bringing icy rain and sleet to South Texas and threats of a dangerous ice storm and power outages from Louisiana to the Virginia coast.
Snow was already falling in parts of Alabama Tuesday morning. Forecasts called for up to a foot of snow in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake in Virginia and up to 10 inches along much of the North Carolina coast.
Delta Airlines, with headquarters in Atlanta, said 1,850 flights have been canceled system-wide Tuesday beginning at 11 a.m. Of that number, 840 flights from Atlanta have been affected.
The threat of icy roads was particularly alarming in southern cities unequipped for such rare events, including such spots as Austin, Charleston, S.C., Pensacola, Fla., Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans.
"This is a very dangerous situation because snow and ice are very rare for extreme southern Mississippi," Robert Latham, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said."We need everyone to have an emergency plan together for this."
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency in The Pelican State because of the threat of heavy snow plus freezing temperatures that could paralyze most roadways.
"It's important people start preparing now for the storm," Jindal said late Monday."We are working to keep open major corridors across the state, but only for those who absolutely must travel."
The harsh cold pushing into the South is an extension of the hard freeze that has gripped the Midwest for days. Schools in Chicago are closed for a second day.
In Minnesota, most metro schools and the University of Minnesota are closed as wind chills were expected to drop as low as 35 to 50 degrees below zero.
The state was also struggling with a short supply of natural gas in some parts due to a Canadian pipeline explosion.
Xcel Energy asked all customers, including in the Twin Cities, to cut back on natural gas use and hold their home thermostats at 60 degrees.
The pipeline blast near Winnipeg disrupted supplies of natural gas service for more than 100,000 Xcel customers in northwestern Minnesota, eastern North Dakota and western Wisconsin, the Star-Tribunereports.
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