(AP) — A rare frigid storm charged through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow, closing highways, grounding nearly all flights and canceling school for millions of students more used to hurricane dismissals than snow days.
The storm prompted the first-ever blizzard warnings for several coastal counties near the Texas-Louisiana border, and snow plows were at the ready in the Florida Panhandle. Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hit parts of the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.
Nearly 2,000 flights to, from or within the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, with about 10,000 others delayed, according to online tracker FlightAware.com. Both Houston airports suspended flight operations starting Tuesday.
Alvaro Perez was hunkering down at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Tuesday after his flight to El Salvador, to visit his girlfriend for her birthday, was canceled. His new departure is scheduled for Thursday.
“I’ll just ride it and stay here,” said Perez, of Hockley, Texas, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away.
Nearly every flight was canceled at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport, though officials said the airport itself would remain open “as long as the conditions are safe.” Most airlines planned to resume operations Wednesday.
It has been more than a decade since snow last fell in New Orleans, where schools are closed through Thursday. Bundled-up onlookers checked out the strange sight of Bourbon Street in the snow, including a snowcapped memorial to those killed in the New Year’s Day truck attack.
With more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) of snow already in parts of the city Tuesday, New Orleans has surpassed the highest total on record — 2.7 inches (6.8 centimeters) on Dec. 31, 1963 — according to the National Weather Service. There have been unofficial reports of 10 inches (26 centimeters) of snow in New Orleans in 1895, NWS meteorologist Christopher Bannan said.
The East Coast was blanketed in snow while people from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine shivered in bitter cold from an arctic air mass that plunged temperatures well below normal.
In New Orleans, 65-year-old Robert Hammock donned a beanie and rallied himself and his border collie Tillie for a snowy morning walk.
“She loves the snow,” Hammock said, as Tillie sprawled happily in the slush on the sidewalk. “I’m from south Alabama, so I hate the snow.”
Winter storm warnings Tuesday extended from Texas to North Carolina, with heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain expected to move eastward through the region into Wednesday. Meanwhile, a state of emergency was declared Monday night across at least a dozen counties in New York as heavy lake-effect snow was expected around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through Wednesday — with 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) possible — along with extremely cold temperatures.
Snow on the Gulf Coast
Ahead of the storm, governors in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even Florida declared states of emergency and many school systems canceled classes Tuesday. School closures were planned in some coastal communities in North and South Carolina.
The NWS said up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow has so far fallen in metro Houston. Texas transportation officials said more than 20 snow plows were in use across nearly 12,000 lane miles in the Houston area, which lacks its own city or county plows.
It’s the first time Houston has seen snow since a winter storm knocked out power to millions and killed more than 200 people in 2021, according to meteorologist Hayley Adams at the NWS in Houston.
Snow is rare in Texas' largest city. In February 1895, a two-day storm dropped a record 20 inches (50 centimeters) on metropolitan Houston.
Officials said one person has died from hypothermia in Georgia. Forecasters say snowfall could stretch from north Georgia, through Atlanta, and into southern portions unaccustomed to such weather.
Parts of Florida's Panhandle were already coated white Tuesday. Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, last saw snow in 2018 — just 0.1 of an inch (0.25 centimeters), according to the weather service. Tallahassee's highest snowfall on record was 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) in 1958.
“Believe it or not, in the state of Florida we’re mobilizing snowplows,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The blizzard warning in effect until midday Tuesday was the first issued by the office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to meteorologist Donald Jones. Strong winds with heavy snow reduced visibility, and areas across the Gulf South that rarely see snow were expecting record-breaking snowfall, Jones said.
Louisiana transportation agency workers worked through the night to prepare bridges and roadways.
Louisiana State Police said they had already responded to more than fifty crashes throughout Tuesday and pleaded for people to stay home.
In Baton Rouge, where snowfall hit 6 inches (15 centimeters) by midday Tuesday, city officials and state police said the low visibility caused by the snow was making roads “hazardous.” It marks the capital city's first snowfall since 2018.
“The last time we saw snow of this magnitude was way back in 1960, and prior to that, the previous snowfall record that even stands to this day was way back in 1895,” Jones said. “By modern standards this is going to be a historic and very memorable storm.”
Return of the Arctic blast
Frigid cold persisted across the eastern two-thirds of the country with multiple record lows possible through midweek, especially across the Gulf Coast and portions of the Southeast, the weather service said. Normal temperatures were only expected to return slowly by the end of the week.
Wind chills were expected to reach minus 30 to minus 50 degrees (minus 34 C to minus 46 C) at times across the Dakotas and into the Upper Midwest, posing an extreme risk of hypothermia and frostbite. Subzero wind chills were forecast from the Central Plains eastward through Wednesday night.
The NWS issued cold weather advisories across the Great Lakes region.
This latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped at the North Pole.
Santa Ana winds expected to return to Southern California
In Southern California, where blazes have killed at least 27 people and burned thousands of homes, dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds remained a concern.
