An area stretching from Texas to Tennessee braced Wednesday for the expected arrival of freezing rain and snow, as some other parts of the country that already received an arctic blast this week prepared to go another round with the plunging polar vortex.
Meanwhile, millions of Floridians are feeling the big chill this week after multiple cold fronts prompted freeze warnings, weather advisories, wind chills advisories and more across many parts of the Sunshine state.
The polar vortex is a stream of cold air that normally spins around the poles high in the stratosphere. The phenomenon blasts Arctic air across part of North America and can disrupt weather patterns.
Thursday morning lows for the Panhandle and parts of north Florida are expected in the mid to upper 20’s with freeze warnings and/or cold weather advisories in effect as well.
Wind chills in this region could drop to teens and lows 20 degrees, posing a significant threat to people and property. Frost and freeze conditions are expected to impact crops, outdoor plants, and plumbing systems.
In central Florida, the coldest temps will be from 4 a.m.-9 a.m. Thursday morning. Several inland counties will also experience several hours of freezing temperatures.
Floridians in affected areas should continue to take cold weather precautions to protect themselves, their pets, and their property from potential cold weather hazards. The National Weather Service says to cover or bring in tender plants. It’s also important to make sure outdoor animals have adequate shelter during this cold weather.
And in South Florida, a Cold Weather Advisory is in effect from 5 a.m.-9 a.m. for Glades and Hendry counties. The rest of south Florida can expect unseasonable chilly temps as well, but no record lows are expected Thursday morning.
Families and neighbors are encouraged to check on elderly or vulnerable individuals to ensure their safety during this cold snap.
Weather forecasting service AccuWeather said the winter storm, forecast to bring snow and ice to more than 20 states, will cause major travel impacts and disruptions that will be felt across the country this week.
“More than 23 million people will be impacted by the snow, sleet, freezing rain and ice with this winter storm. We expect dangerous travel conditions and potential road closures, especially in areas along the I-40 corridor,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
“This storm is going to cause a huge travel mess,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “Suburbs north of Dallas could see more than 6 inches of snow accumulate. Icy conditions and freezing temperatures at night after the storm will create slippery and hazardous conditions for college football fans traveling to the Cotton Bowl in Arlington.”
Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, closed schools on Thursday and Friday in preparation for the storm, which could start dumping heavy snow on the region overnight. Although certain parts of the U.S. began to emerge from a deep freeze, life still hadn’t returned to normal in other locales, including the Kansas City area, which canceled classes Wednesday for a third-straight day, and the Virginia capital, Richmond, which was still under a weather-related water-boil advisory until at least Friday.
The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires that were tearing through the Los Angeles area, forcing residents to flee from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.
A mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain is expected to fall on a stretch of the U.S. from New Mexico to Alabama starting Wednesday night and early Thursday, with the heaviest amounts likely in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, according to the National Weather Service. In the most southern locations, the snow could turn into sleet and freezing rain, which meteorologists warn could cause hazardous driving conditions.
That system is expected to push northeastward by Friday with a mix of heavy snow and freezing rain forecast from southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas all the way to the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.
As much as 8 inches (about 20 centimeters) of snow could fall in scattered parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through Saturday, the weather service said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced the closure of some state offices on Friday, while Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said all city offices would be closed that day, with employees working remotely.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.
The weather’s impact on farmers and ranchers
Some parts of Kansas have received nearly an entire year’s average of snow over the past few days, hitting farmers and ranchers “in ways that we haven’t seen in this area for a very, very long time, potentially a lifetime,” said Chip Redmond, a meteorologist at Kansas State University.
The risk is real: Calves, especially, can die when temperatures slip below zero. And so much snow in rural areas can keep farmers from reaching herds with food and water
In northern Florida, growers were most concerned about the ferns grown for floral arrangements, with Valentine’s Day only a month away.
Major damage to citrus trees, which typically occurs when temperatures drop to 28 degrees (minus 2 degrees Celsius) or below for several hours, is less likely. Most of Florida’s commercial citrus groves are far south enough that they haven’t been affected by this week’s recent cold snap.
A boil-water order for Virginia’s capital
Richmond will remain under a boil-water advisory until at least Friday as officials work to restore the city’s water reservoir system, which malfunctioned after a storm this week caused a power outage, Mayor Danny Avula said.
The city of more than 200,000 residents is distributing bottled water at 11 sites, and is delivering it to older residents and others who are unable to get to those sites, officials said.
“We’ve got families in the city, they don’t have any water,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday. “We’ve got young children where mothers are asking, ‘What do I do about baby formula?’”
Due to the problems in Richmond, the first working day of the legislative session was postponed, as the state Capitol and General Assembly buildings remained closed on Wednesday.
Travel dangers and delays
More than 50,000 customers were without power on Wednesday in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.
More than 2,000 flights in the U.S. were delayed or canceled before midday on Wednesday, according to tracking platform Flight Aware. More than 5,000 flights into or out of the U.S. were delayed Tuesday.
Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky earlier this week, and a state trooper was treated for injuries after his patrol car was hit.
Three people died in vehicle crashes in Virginia, according to state police. Other weather-related fatal accidents occurred Sunday near Charleston, West Virginia, and Monday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kansas, where over a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell in places, had two deadly weekend crashes.
And in In Birmingham, Alabama, where temperatures fell below freezing, the Jefferson County coroner’s office said Wednesday that it was investigating three possible deaths from hypothermia that had occurred over the past 24 hours.
The Associated Press and the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network Storm Center contributed to this report.