It’s a once-in-a-generation storm. The Deep South will be experiencing a “deep freeze” this week as arctic air drives toward the Gulf Coast and Carolinas.
“This is going to be a pretty intense winter storm system that could be crippling for these areas.” (Via Fox News)
“Right now we have winter storm watches and warnings on a line across 1300 miles from Houston, TX, Mobile, Pensacola, FL, Tamarin.” (Via MSNBC)
“There are winter storm warnings that have just gone up all the way from Texas to far southern Maryland and I gotta’ tell ya’, warning, means it’s imminent.” (Via ABC)
The winter storm is due to hit large swaths of the South Tuesday and last into Wednesday.
States as far south as Florida will be effected, with a Florida official telling AccuWeather: "This is probably one of those storms that only occurs every 10 years or so. Air and ground travel could certainly be impacted tremendously."
The Weather Channel says many of those areas will receive ice and snow, warning, “Very hazardous travel is likely across a long swath of the South from southeast Texas to … eastern North Carolina in the Tuesday to Wednesday timeframe.”
So far, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana have preemptively declared states of emergency and are scrambling salt trucks and snow plows.
But it’s not just the South that’s getting hit. The Midwest will be facing bitter cold, with the University of Michigan cancelling classes for the first time in 36 years. (Via The Ann Arbor News)
Temperatures in the path of the storm will be at or below freezing by Tuesday morning.
