ALL those from up North that thought they’d escape?
What about all the kids who NEVER have had snow days?
Hoping everyone is safe down there….
The image was taken in Florida….
Parts of the South were at a standstill on Wednesday after a rare winter storm dumped record amounts of snow on much of the Gulf Coast and the Carolinas. In its aftermath, major cities and beachfront communities from East Texas to the Outer Banks were forced to quickly learn how to dig out, with some borrowing snow plows from northern neighbors more accustomed to winter weather.
The storm, fueled by a whirling mass of cold air originating from the Arctic, killed at least 10 people in Texas, Alabama and Georgia, and left hazardous ice-covered roads and frozen bridges in its wake. Temperatures across much of the South were forecast to stay in the low teens or single-digits through Wednesday night, and many schools, businesses and airports will remain closed, some until Thursday.
Here’s what we’re covering:
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The forecast: Precipitation was winding down Wednesday as the storm pushed off the East Coast, but colder-than-normal temperatures were expected to linger through Saturday. A weaker system may sweep across other parts of the United States into Wednesday night, bringing snow to places that are more accustomed to it, from the northern Rockies to the Great Lakes. The system will continue east on Thursday.
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Interstate closures: Authorities in Florida and Louisiana closed long stretches of Interstate 10, a highway more commonly shut down for hurricanes. A 100-mile stretch of closed interstate in Louisiana spans nearly half the state, and the authorities had previously closed a 50-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, and another 50 miles in and around New Orleans on Tuesday.
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Record snowfall: Cities and towns from Houston to the Florida Panhandle were blanketed with snowfall totals unseen in decades. Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla., both coastal cities, broke records that have stood since a storm in 1895. Nearly nine inches was recorded in the far west of the Florida panhandle, and Chalmette, La., just east of New Orleans, had 11.5 inches of snow by Tuesday evening.
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Travel disruption: Gov. Josh Stein of North Carolina, whose state was the last to feel the storm’s icy wrath, warned residents to stay off the roads, calling them “the most dangerous place to be in a winter storm like this.” More than 100 flights in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina were canceled, but several airports that had closed on Tuesday, including in Houston, were expected to reopen on Wednesday…..
image…Heavy snow fell across Pensacola, Fla., on Tuesday.
Got around 3 inches here.
First snow since 2018!