Southern states declare states of emergency ahead of potentially historic snow as cold temperatures chill 220 million people

More than 220 million people across the United States are facing dangerous cold that will also open the door to a potentially historic and crippling winter storm that could deliver snow as far south as Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm, combined with cold air, will bring snowfall, freezing rain, icy roads and other major travel disruptions from late Monday into Wednesday morning in southern cities from Texas to South Carolina, where severe winter weather is rare.

The governors of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have declared states of emergency, while authorities in Texas have ordered state agencies to mobilize resources due to the threat of snow.

Arkansas has sent the state of Louisiana 12 dump trucks with snowplows, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said Monday during a press conference on storm preparations.

“This is the time to cook a big pot of gumbo,” Landry said.

Officials in affected states urged people to stay off roads, run faucets to prevent pipes from freezing, check batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and refrain from using stoves to heat homes. The precautions are more familiar to people living in northern climates, but rare in the south.

“Most of us have not experienced this combination of bitter cold and significant snow ever in our lifetime,” Louisiana climatologist Jay Grymes said Monday.

A forecast from the National Weather Service warned“this should be considered a winter storm event and its effects should be taken seriously.”

Journeys could be delayed for days

The forecast has already prompted more than 1,700 flight cancellations on Tuesday, with the majority of flights coming from Texas and Louisiana, according to the tracking website FlightAware.

Houston’s major airports, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport, will be closed Tuesday.

“I have been convinced that we are about to experience a very severe and dangerous weather episode,” John Whitmire, Houston’s mayor, said at a Sunday news conference.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airportprepares roadways and airfield surfaces in preparation for winter weather, according to spokesman Andrew Gobeil.

“The emergency operations center will activate at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning and will remain operational throughout the event,” Gobeil said Monday. “Passengers are encouraged to arrive at the airport at least two and a half hours before domestic departure times, unless otherwise instructed by their airlines.”

The snow is expected to fall along the Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 corridors, prompting highway officials to warn drivers of the possibility of road closures for the next few days in areas where many drivers are not used to driving on snow.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston said it will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to the extreme weather. Port Houston said its facilities will be closed Tuesday likewise.

Schools are closed in several states, including Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. The Houston Independent School District, which is the largest in the state and the eighth largest in the nation, will also be closed until Wednesday, Whitmire said.

Atlanta Public Schools, which serves about 50,000 students, said its schools and district offices will be closed Tuesday.

A large part of the United States threw itself into cold air

A brutally cold blast of Siberian air has sent temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below normal from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and beyond, in what is already the coldest time of the year.

The already severe cold is made more dangerous by gusts of wind, which bring dangerous chills to millions. The wind chill hit 57 degrees below zero in Rolla, North Dakota, Monday morning. Wind chills this low can cause frostbite on exposed skin in less than 5 minutes.

An 80-year-old man died in Milwaukee after falling outdoors early Sunday morning in what is being investigated as a “probable hypothermia death,” according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. Milwaukee’s low temperature Sunday morning hit zero with chills in the sub-zero teens.

Across the northern US, several cities including Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, New York City, Washington, DC, Boston and Philadelphia could go days without seeing a high temperature rise above freezing.

Southern cities such as Houston, Atlanta, Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee, could also see below-freezing highs on Monday or Tuesday. This long period of cold temperatures can cause pipes to burst.

Low temperatures could drop to record levels last set in the 1930s Wednesday morning in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Historic snow heading south

In addition to the extreme cold, much of the Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 corridors stretching from central Texas through northern Florida could record accumulating snow rarely seen in the region.

Messy winter weather begins Monday evening in Central Texas and increases in both intensity and extent overnight. Snow, sleet and freezing rain will extend from coastal Texas to Louisiana and Mississippi by sunrise Tuesday. This dangerous mix will expand eastward through the remainder of the Southeast Tuesday and reach parts of the Carolinas Tuesday night.

Widespread snow totals of 1 to 3 inches will accumulate from southeast Texas — including Houston — through southern Louisiana and into parts of southern Georgia and coastal South Carolina from Monday night into Wednesday morning. Totals of more than 3 inches are possible, mainly in southeast Texas and in parts of southern Louisiana — including Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

New Orleans hasn’t recorded measurable snow — meaning at least 0.1 inch — since 2009, and has never recorded more than 3 inches of snow. The city’s snowiest day ever on record dates to 1963, when 2.7 inches fell.

Gusty winds could combine with heavy snow at times Tuesday and potentially create whiteout conditions in southern Louisiana. If these whiteout conditions last long enough, it could trigger the region’s first blizzard warning on record.

“(It’s) something I never thought I’d say in this part of the world, but blizzards are certainly within reach for some areas,” said Donald Jones, a meteorologist at the National Weather service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Measurable snow has happened only a dozen times at Houston’s Hobby Airport since 1932, most recently in February 2021. The most snow that fell in a single day at the site is 4.4 inches set in February 1960.

Pensacola, Florida could record its first measurable snow since 2014 with a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain on the way. If measurable snow covers the ground across Florida, as it is expected to do, it will be the first winter since 2010 that all 50 states have had measurable snow.

Freezing rain will increase the travel hazard. It is possible over much of northern Florida and parts of southern Georgia and South Carolina. Any amount of ice is dangerous, especially for an area so unfamiliar with it.

Moderate to major impacts are likely along the Gulf Coast as a result of this storm, according to NOAA’s Winter Storm Severity Index. Travel conditions will be dangerous for many in the area and may be dangerous or even impossible in some areas – especially southeast Texas and southern Louisiana.

“Consider delaying all travel,” the National Weather Service in New Orleans urged on Monday. “Use extreme caution if travel is absolutely necessary.”

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a independent organization operation of the electric grid in Texas, issued a weather watch because the forecast in the state is expected to bring “higher electric demand and the potential for lower reserves.”

Syd braces for rare winter blasting

Across the South, authorities warned of the potential for hazardous travel, power outages, downed trees and frozen pipes due to the rare winter weather.

The Houston branch of the weather service warned that freezing rain and ice could make driving treacherous until dinner Wednesdaybut that overnight sub-freezing temperatures will remain in place until Friday.

Houston’s mayor urged residents to protect their water pipes before the cold temperatures hit, noting that the city’s water system is already “fragile” with more than 1,000 active water leaks in Houston.

“Let me stress the preparation of your pipes,” Whitmire said Sunday. “Put your tubes if possible.”

He urged residents to stay inside, check on vulnerable neighbors and family members and use one of the city’s 24-hour warming centers. Officials are doing “everything we can” to encourage homeless people to seek refuge in warming centers, he added.

New Orleans officials also asked residents to be prepared for the extreme cold and upcoming winter weather.

“Be prepared to stay for three days,” Colin Arnold, director of the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Monday.

The city’s primary schools will remain closed Tuesday and all city transport will be suspended at 11pm CST Monday.

“We’re going to be a little more proactive in closing the streets before people get out there and are on a rink,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Monday.

In Minnesota, where chills were as low as 50 below zero Monday morning, Kristi Rollwagen, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, urged residents to wear appropriate clothing and wear a emergency survival kit during the unusually cold weather, The Associated Press reported.

The dangerous cold, several blizzards and California’s devastating wildfires has caused acute shortages of platelets and some blood types at the American Red Cross. The dangerous weather canceled blood drives and prevented donors from getting to centers, amounting to more than 10,000 missed donations in the first two weeks of January.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar and CNN’s Joe Sutton and Eric Zerkel contributed to this report.

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