The National Weather Service forecast between 3 and 7 inches of snow and sleet for parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans, heading into Tuesday. In Texas, both Houston airports announced flight operations would be suspended starting Tuesday in expectation of hazardous conditions from the severe winter weather taking aim at a huge swath of the South.
Residents from Texas to north Florida were rushing to insulate pipes, check heating systems and stock up on emergency supplies.
Elsewhere, the East Coast endured a thick blanket of snow while people from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine shivered in bitterly cold temperatures from the frigid arctic air mass that sent temperatures plunging well below normal Monday. Dangerously cold wind chills were expected to persist through Tuesday morning.
Around 40 million people, primarily across the southern U.S. from Texas to Florida, were under some type of weather hazard, including more than 21 million under a winter storm warning, said meteorologist Marc Chenard with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. He added about 170 million people from the Rockies to points eastward were under either an extreme warning or a cold weather advisory.
Lakesha Reed, manager of Beaucoup Eats catering in New Orleans, had plans to fly out Tuesday to cook for a Mardi Gras-style event in the nation's capital, but flights were canceled amid extreme cold. The 47-year-old New Orleans native said it was in the 30s early Monday afternoon in her port city, where near-freezing temperatures are rare.
“We can barely drive in the rain,” she said. “Last year, we wore shorts for Mardi Gras.”
The online tracker FlightAware reported nearly 600 flight cancellations by Monday evening within the U.S. or entering or leaving the country, along with nearly 6,500 delays. More than 1,700 such cancellations also were posted for Tuesday.
