Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana prepare for next round of bitter cold, snow

On January 7, 2025By Littum

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The next round of bitter cold should envelop the southern US on Tuesday after the year’s first significant winter storm blew up a large part of the country with ice, snow and wind.

The huge storm system brought disturbances even to areas of the country that normally escape winter’s wrath, toppling trees in some southern states, threatening to freeze in Florida and causing people in Dallas to dig deep into their wardrobes for hats and gloves.

Tuesday morning, the wind chill temperature was 16 degrees at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. A low pressure system was expected to form as soon as Wednesday near south Texas, bringing the potential for snow to parts of the state that include Dallas, as well as to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

“As we go through the next few days, we’re still going to see those colder-than-normal temperatures,” said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather service in College Park, Maryland. “We’re going to see areas of snow and ice start to take shape across northern Texas, southern Oklahoma as we come in Thursday morning.”

Snow and ice are expected to move further south into the lower Mississippi Valley, some of it “pretty disruptive,” he said.

Lingering snow and ice in the central plains through the Ohio Valley into the Atlantic will likely persist for a few days, Mullinax said. That will create opportunities for constant refreezing and black ice, which could create treacherous travel conditions in some areas for the next few days.

The polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend, much of the country east of the Rockies held its cold grip on Monday, making many roads treacherous, forcing school closings and causing widespread power outages and flight cancellations. Some experts say so burst of cold air happens more often, paradoxically, because of a warming the world.

Ice and snow covered major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. The weather service issued winter storm warnings for Kansas and Missouri, where blizzards brought wind gusts of up to 45 mph. The warnings were extended to New Jersey until early Tuesday.

A truck stop in Kentucky was jammed with big rigs forced off an icy and snow-covered Interstate 75 on Monday just outside of Cincinnati. Michael Taylor, a long-haul driver from Los Angeles transporting a load of blankets to Georgia, said he saw several cars and trucks stuck in ditches and dealing with icy windshield wipers before pulling off the highway.

“It was too dangerous. I didn’t want to kill myself or anyone else,” he said.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes plunges south into the United States, Europe and Asia. Studies show that a rapidly warming Arctic is partly to blame for the increasing frequency of the polar vortex extending its grip.

Temperatures are dropping across the country

The eastern two-thirds of the United States dealt with bitter cold and wind chill Monday, with temperatures in some areas well below normal.

A cold weather advisory is in effect early Tuesday across the Gulf Coast. In the Texas capital Austin and the surrounding cities, chills could drop as low as 15 degrees.

The Northeast was expected to have several cold days.

The transport has been difficult

Hundreds of car crashes were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was hit.

Virginia State Police responded to at least 430 crashes Sunday and Monday, including one that was fatal. Police said other weather-related fatalities occurred Sunday near Charleston, West Virginia, and Monday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kansas experienced two fatal crashes over the weekend.

More than 2,300 flights were canceled and at least 9,100 more were delayed nationwide as of Monday evening, according to tracking platform FlightAware. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reported that about 58% of arrivals and 70% of departures had been canceled. The airport announced early Tuesday that it had reopened all runways after closing them Monday night so airport crews could focus on snow removal and preventing re-icing of the airfield.

A record 8 inches of snow fell Sunday at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, prompting dozens of flight cancellations that continued into Monday. About 4 inches fell Monday in the Cincinnati area, where car and truck crashes closed at least two major routes leading into downtown.

More snow and ice is expected

In Indiana, stretches of Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and US Route 41 are covered in snow, prompting authorities to plead with people to stay home.

“It’s snowing so hard that the snowplows go through, and within half an hour the roadways are completely covered again,” says the state police chief. Todd Ringle said.

The Mid-Atlantic region had been forecast to get another 6 to 12 inches of snow on Monday. Dangerously cold temperatures were expected to follow, with overnight lows dropping into the single digits through midweek across the Central Plains and into the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

In North Texas, 2 to 5 inches of snow was expected starting Thursday, according to the weather service. Snow could also hit Oklahoma and Arkansas, with some parts potentially getting more than 4 inches.

Classes canceled in several states

School closings were widespread, with districts in Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas canceling or delaying the start of classes Monday. Among them was Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools, which canceled classes and other school activities for its nearly 100,000 students.

Classes were also canceled in Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency on Sunday and announced that state government offices would also be closed on Monday. Government offices were also closed Monday in Kentucky, where Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency.

Tens of thousands are without power

Many were in the dark as temperatures dropped. More than 218,000 customers were without power Monday night across Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, according to utility tracking website PowerOutage.us.

In Virginia’s capital, a power outage caused a temporary malfunction in the water system, officials said Monday afternoon. Officials in Richmond asked those in the city of more than 200,000 people to refrain from drinking tap water or washing dishes without boiling the water first. The city also asked people to conserve their water, such as by taking shorter showers.

City officials said they were working nonstop to bring the system back online.

By PATRICK WHITTLE and BRIAN WITTE with The Associated Press

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press reporters Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Kathy McCormack of Concord, New Hampshire; Julie Walker in New York; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Kimberly Chandler of Montgomery, Ala.; Zeke Miller in Washington, DC; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.