It has been one of the snowiest weeks in years across the southern United States as a winter storm spreads accumulating snow, sleet and freezing rain across more than a dozen states.
People stormed local stores ahead of the wintry weather to stock up on food and other essentials, with stores in Atlanta sold out of bread, milk, water, meat and soup. School districts across the region also shuttered at the end of the week due to the risk of dangerous travel amid the wintry weather.
The winter storm began to unfold in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday. Snow quickly accumulated on highways, leading to scores of accidents. Travel came to a standstill at airports across the region, including at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where more than 1,500 flights were canceled on Thursday and another 450 on Friday.
In Dallas, 2.2 inches accumulated, making it the biggest snowfall in the city since Feb. 14, 2021. Heavier snow fell to the north, including 3.5 inches in Oklahoma City, setting a new snowfall record for the date.
The heaviest snow piled up from eastern Texas into western Tennessee where over 6 inches accumulated by midday Friday, including in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The highest amount was 14.3 inches at Mena, located in west-central Arkansas.
“Roads are deteriorating rapidly. It’s gonna be a long night for some of these people. You don’t want to get stuck out here,” Storm Chaser Mike Scantlin said while reporting from Little Rock on Thursday evening. “I’m watching people come up this bridge and then try to make this left turn onto the interstate, and even 4-wheel drive vehicles are just spinning their tires.”
By Friday morning, snow shovels were needed across Tennessee, northern Alabama, northern Georgia and into parts of the Carolinas.
“The roads are just completely covered,” Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby said on Friday morning while reporting from Atlanta. “A lot of the businesses and school districts have closed down.”
Over 850 flights were canceled, and another 430 were delayed at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Friday. To add to the wintry travel headaches, a Delta jet had to abort takeoff from the airport on Friday morning due to an engine issue. Four people were injured and more than 200 passengers had to exit the plane on slides and walk across the snowy tarmac.
If Atlanta receives more than 3.7 inches of snow, it will be the snowiest day in the city since March 1, 2009, when 4.2 inches accumulated.
Vehicles move slowly on Interstate 575 during a winter storm, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The snow is forecast to spread into the Northeast by the start of the weekend, where it is expected to be more of a nuisance rather than a major nor’easter.
“While a general 1 to perhaps 3 inches of snow is forecast, there can be pockets where a coating or a dusting of snow could be all that falls from the storm, especially along the upper mid-Atlantic coast,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
See the latest snowfall forecast.
