Frigid temperatures engulfed Texas and other parts of the south on Monday ahead of a rare winter storm expected to bring heavy snow and disruptive ice accumulations to the region into Wednesday, sending residents scurrying to insulate pipes, check heating systems and stock emergency kits.
In Texas, William P Hobby airport and George Bush airport in Houston announced on Sunday night that flight operations would be suspended Tuesday in anticipation of hazardous conditions.
Meanwhile, people in the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine were experiencing bitterly cold temperatures as an Arctic air mass caused temperatures to plunge well below normal values with dangerously cold wind chills, while the east coast contends with a thick blanket of snow.
Winter storm warnings stretched from Texas to Florida on Monday, with heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain expected in the region into Wednesday. Heavy lake-effect snow was expected in western New York state Monday through Wednesday morning, with 1 to 2ft (30 to 61cm) possible in some areas including Oswego along Lake Ontario.
Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, projected that as many as 70 million residents would be under some kind of winter storm warning in the coming days.
The colder temperatures will dip into the south early this week, where as many as 30 million people could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The unusual conditions are expected to stretch from Texas into northern Florida and the Carolinas.
Winter storm warnings were in effect in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle on Monday. The storm was expected to impact Texas on Monday evening, then spread eastward through Wednesday morning with heavy snow expected along and to the north of the Interstate 10 corridor with sleet and freezing rain in south Texas and south-east Georgia and northern Florida.
Jeff Landry, Louisiana’s governor, on Saturday issued a state of emergency ahead of the severe weather, urging residents to prepare and keep watch on the forecast.
Sunday snowfall was just the start of a chaotic week of weather. Much of the eastern seaboard will be enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter.
An area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal weather over several days, with temperatures forecast to drop to between –30F (–34C) to –55F (–48C) on Monday. Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to reach as far south as Oklahoma and the Tennessee Valley.
Minnesota residents were urged to wear appropriate clothing and carry a survival kit for travel. Kristi Rollwagen, director of homeland security and emergency management at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, also urged motorists to drive with a full tank of gas and a fully charged cellphone to keep in touch with loved ones.
“It’s not something we haven’t experienced before, it’s just a good reminder that it does get cold in Minnesota,” Rollwagen said.
Meanwhile, temperatures in Washington DC dipped into the 20s (about –7C to –1C) with wind gusts upwards of 30mph (48kp/h), Chenard said. The forecast prompted Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony to be moved inside the US Capitol rotunda.
Like earlier this month, this latest cold snap came from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.
The cold air will moderate as it moves southward and eastward, but the central and eastern US will still experience temperatures in the teens and 20s Monday into Tuesday, Chenard said. The mid-Atlantic and north-east also will have highs in the teens and 20s, lows in the single digits and below 0F (–18C), and wind chills below zero.
Frigid air combined with a low-pressure system over the Gulf is behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.
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