Winter storm that dropped record snow in New Orleans spreads to Florida and Carolinas

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A major winter storm which battered Texas and blanketed the northern Gulf Coast with record snowfall, moved east overnight, spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and the eastern Carolinas.

The weather warning areas included major cities such as Jacksonville, Florida, which are expected to see snow, sleet and ice accumulation through Wednesday. Jacksonville International Airport closed because of the weather Tuesday night and said it planned to reopen by noon Wednesday. Schools canceled classes and government offices were closed Wednesday.

“We are expecting some winter weather we are not used to in Northeast Florida,” the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook. “The safest place you can be on Tuesday night and Wednesday is at home!”

In eastern North Carolina, drifting snow with near-blizzard conditions was expected in the state’s Outer Banks, where up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) were forecast to fall.

Dangerous sub-freezing temperatures with even colder wind chills were also expected to last for most of the week in the region. Authorities say three people have died in the cold weather.

The heavy snowsleet and freezing rain that hit parts of the deep south came as one blast of arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and eastern United States into a deep freeze.

Record-setting snow days

It had been more than a decade since snow last fell on New Orleans. Tuesday’s rare snowfall set a record for the city, with 10 inches (25 centimeters) falling in some places, far surpassing the record of 2.7 inches (6.8 centimeters) set on Dec. 31, 1963, the National Weather Service said.

“Wow, what a snow day!” the weather bureau said in a social media post. “It’s safe to say this was a historic snowfall for much of the area.”

Snow closed highways, grounded nearly every plane and canceled school for more than a million students who are more used to hurricane dismissals than snow days.

Snow fell in Houston, triggering the first ever blizzard warnings for several coastal counties near the Texas-Louisiana border. Snow blanketed the white sand beaches of normally sunny resorts including Gulf Shores, Alabama and Pensacola Beach, Florida.

“Believe it or not, in the state of Florida we are mobilizing snowplows,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

People made the most of it—from a snowball fight on a Gulf Shores beach to sledding in a laundry basket in Montgomery, Alabama, to pool tubing down a Houston hill.

In New Orleans, city skiing was attempted along Bourbon Street, a priest and nuns engaged in a snowball fight outside a suburban church, snowboarders shredded behind a golf cart, and people sledded down the snow-covered Mississippi River levees on kayaks, cardboard boxes and inflatable alligators.

High school teacher David Delio and his two daughters slid down the levee on a yoga mat and a boogie board.

“This is a white-out in New Orleans, this is a snow-a-stick,” Delio said. “We’ve had tons of hurricane days, but never a snow day.”

The nuns at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School near New Orleans urged its students last week to pray for the snow day they received Tuesday, Pastor Tim Hedrick said. The priest said he invited the nuns to make snow angels and they challenged him to a snowball fight that has since received tens of thousands of views on social media.

“It’s a fun way to show that priests and sisters are people too and they can have fun,” Hedrick said.

Mobile, Alabama, hit 5.4 inches (13.7 centimeters) on Tuesday, topping the city’s one-day snowfall record of 5 inches (12.7 centimeters), set Jan. 24, 1881, and approaching its all-time snowfall record of 6 inches (15.5 centimeters) ) in 1895, the weather service said.

Flight cancellations, states of emergency and deaths

More than 2,300 flights to, from or within the United States were canceled Tuesday, according to online tracker FlightAware.com. Both Houston airports suspended flight operations, and nearly all flights were canceled at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport. Most airlines planned to resume operations on Wednesday.

The NWS said up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow fell in the Houston area. 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.

Ahead of the storm, governors in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even Florida — the Sunshine State — declared states of emergency, and many school systems canceled classes Tuesday. School closings were planned in some coastal communities in North and South Carolina.

In the Texas capital, two people died in the cold weather, according to a statement from the city of Austin. No details were provided, but the city said emergency crews had responded to more than a dozen “cold exposure” calls.

Officials said one person has died of hypothermia in Georgia.

A state of emergency was also declared in at least a dozen New York counties with up to 2 feet (60 centimeters) lake-effect snow and extreme cold is expected around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through Wednesday.

The Santa Ana winds are expected to return to Southern California

In Southern California, where flames have killed at least 27 people and burned thousands of homes, dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds remained a concern.

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Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Jack Brook in New Orleans; Sara Cline in Key Largo, Florida; Julie Walker in New York; Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn.; Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey; Corey Williams in Detroit; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta; Safiyah Riddle of Montgomery, Alabama; Makiya Seminary in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Wash., contributed.