Another round of bitter cold swept across the Southern United States on Tuesday after the first significant winter storm of the year blanketed much of the country with snow, ice and wind.
The massive storm system also caused disruption in areas of the country that typically escape winter’s wrath, downing trees in some southern states, threatening freezing temperatures in Florida and sending people in Dallas scrambling for hats and gloves. Had to dig deep into my closet.
Wind chill temperatures could drop as low as 10.5 degrees below zero from Texas to the Gulf Coast by early Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. A low pressure system is then expected to form near South Texas on Wednesday, bringing the potential for snowfall to parts of the state, including Dallas, as well as Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The polar vortex that sank to the south Much of the country east of the Rockies remained under severe gusts into Monday over the weekend, causing dangerous road conditions, school closures and widespread power outages. flight cancellation,
Major roads were covered with ice and snow in parts of Kansas, western Nebraska and Indiana, where the National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Kansas and Missouri, where the blizzard caused winds gusts up to 72 kilometers per hour. The warnings were extended to New Jersey early Tuesday.
A Kentucky truck stop was jammed with big rigs Monday on icy and snow-covered Interstate 75 just outside of Cincinnati. Michael Taylor, a long-haul driver driving from Los Angeles to Georgia with a load of rugs, said he saw several cars and trucks stuck in ditches and was dealing with icy windshield wipers before getting off the interstate.
“It was very dangerous. “I didn’t want to kill myself or anyone else,” he said.
The polar vortex of extremely cold air usually rotates around the North Pole, but sometimes it falls as far south as the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Studies show that rapidly warming arctic This is partly attributed to the increasing frequency of the polar vortex taking hold.
Temperatures have dropped across the country
The eastern two-thirds of America belongs to bone-chilling cold And on Monday, cold winds prevailed, with temperatures in some areas far below normal.
A winter weather advisory will go into effect early Tuesday morning across the entire Gulf Coast. The air temperature in Texas capital Austin and surrounding cities can drop to minus 9.4 degrees.
Several cold days were expected in the Northeast.
transportation has become difficult
Hundreds of car crashes were recorded in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after being struck by his patrol car.
Virginia State Police responded to at least 430 crashes Sunday and Monday, one of which was fatal. Other fatal weather-related crashes occurred near Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Monday, police said. The weekend saw two fatal crashes in Kansas.
More than 2,300 flights were canceled and at least 9,100 were canceled delayed across the country As of Monday night, according to tracking platform FlightAware. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reported that approximately 58% of arrivals and 70% of departures were cancelled.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport received a record snowfall of more than 20 centimeters on Sunday, causing dozens of flight cancellations that continued into Monday. About 10 centimeters of snow fell Monday in the Cincinnati area, where car and truck crashes closed at least two major thoroughfares leading into the city.
More snow and ice expected
In Indiana, Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and portions of U.S. Route 41 were covered in snow, prompting officials to urge people to stay home.
“It was snowing so hard that the snow plows started working and then within a half hour the roads were completely covered again,” said State Police Sergeant Todd Ringle.
thousands of people are without electricity
Many people remained in the dark due to falling temperatures. More than 218,000 customers were without power Monday night in Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, according to the electric utility tracking website PowerOutage.us.
A power outage in Virginia’s capital caused a temporary outage of the water system, officials said Monday afternoon. Richmond officials asked people in the city of more than 200,000 to avoid drinking tap water or washing dishes without boiling the water first. The city also asked people to conserve their water, such as taking shorter showers.
City officials said they are continuing to work to get the system back online.