A powerful winter storm's heavy snow and sleet cancels flights and closes schools across the South

DALLAS — A powerful winter storm brought heavy snow and icy conditions to parts of the South on Thursday, forcing officials to close schools, cancel flights and warn residents in some of the worst-hit areas to stay off roads as it lumbered eastward through Oklahoma and Texas.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders mobilized the National Guard to help stranded motorists, and school was canceled for Thursday and Friday for millions of children across a wide tract of southern states from Texas to Georgia.

The storm dumped as much as 6 to 7 inches in some spots in central Oklahoma and northern Texas before pushing into western Arkansas, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow fell in Little Rock, Arkansas, and further south and east into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain glazed roads and made travel treacherous.

“I have not seen any accidents, but I have seen a couple of people get stuck out on the road and sliding around,” said Charles Daniel, a truck driver hauling a 48-foot trailer loaded with paint, auto parts and other supplies through slick, slushy roads in central Oklahoma on Thursday. “People do not need to be driving.”

Schools canceled classes for more than 1 million students in Texas and Oklahoma, and closures also kept students home in Kansas City and Arkansas, while in Virginia, frustrations mounted in the state capital over a boil-water advisory caused by an earlier round of winter storms.

Hundreds of flights were canceled by Thursday morning in Dallas, according to tracking platform FlightAware, with more than 3,800 delays and 1,800 cancellations reported nationally.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such events are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.

The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area.

Snow, sleet hammering Texas, Oklahoma

Paul Kirkwood, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the storm sweeping through the Dallas area will create a “swath of snow” that will also impact parts of Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina and South Carolina.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to avoid driving if possible.

Carmen Munoz, a teacher, was spending a bit of her day off from school in a downtown Dallas park with her boyfriend, bundled up in a coat with a hood up as temperatures hovered around freezing. She said she planned to spend the rest of the day at home, avoiding slick roads.

“I’ll be home, drinking coffee,” she said.

Roads could be dangerous Friday as 75,000 fans were expected at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the college football championship semifinal between Texas and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Arlington spokesperson Susan Shrock said crews will be ready to address any hazardous road conditions.

Southern discomfort

The system was expected to push northeastward by Friday with heavy snow and freezing rain all the way to the Virginia and North Carolina coasts. As much as 8 inches of snow could fall in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through Saturday, the weather service said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Thursday as the northern half of the state girded for snow and ice beginning Friday morning. National Weather Service forecasters warned that snow and ice are likely to accumulate across metro Atlanta, making roadways treacherous and possibly causing power outages.

In Tennessee, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the largest district in the state with more than 100,000 students, said all schools and administrative buildings will be closed Friday because of expected heavy snowfall. With Memphis forecast to receive up to 8 inches of snow Friday, officials said two warming centers are open 24 hours to provide shelter for people who need to escape the cold.

Parts of South Carolina prepared for the first wintery weather in three years. The state Department of Transportation dusted off its brine and salt supply and began treating interstates and other major highways from Columbia north on Thursday. School systems in those areas either will close early or all day Friday or hold online learning days.

And in North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm, which forecasters say could bring up to 3 inches of snow to many parts of the state, with higher amounts in mountain areas. Sleet and freezing rain was also likely.

The approaching storm already prompted the cancellation of a public outdoor inauguration ceremony for Stein and other statewide elected officials in Raleigh on Saturday. Official inauguration parties Friday and Saturday night also were postponed.

A boil-water order for Virginia’s capital

Richmond will remain under a boil-water advisory until at least Friday as officials work to restore the water reservoir system, which was shut down Monday after a storm caused a power outage, Mayor Danny Avula said.

The city of more than 200,000 was distributing bottled water at 11 sites and delivering it to older residents and others unable to get to those locations, officials said.