Topline
A historic winter storm is making its way through the south, bringing once-in-a-lifetime snowfall to many places that typically don’t receive it and placing millions under winter storm warnings, just days after most of the country suffered its coldest temperatures of the season.
Snow falls on Chartres Street in the French Quarter on Jan. 21, in New Orleans, Louisiana. A winter … [+]
Key Facts
The National Weather Service New Orleans said some parts of New Orleans and Baton Rouge got up to eight inches of snow, as of 3 p.m. EST, and it warned while snowfall has calmed down it may pick back up.
Houston got more than four inches of snow Monday night into Tuesday, and snow was still falling in Galveston and Brownsville, Texas, on Tuesday morning before the storm pushed eastward.
Houston is under a winter storm warning until 6 p.m. on Tuesday with snow and sleet expected to end in the afternoon, and an extreme cold watch follows that until 9 a.m. on Wednesday with the NWS predicting wind chill values could fall as low as 7 degrees.
Parts of south Louisiana and extreme southeast Texas, including the cities of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Beaumont, Texas, were under a blizzard warning late Tuesday morning into the early afternoon—it was the first-ever blizzard warning issued in the state of Louisiana, according to Fox Weather.
Parts of coastal Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are also facing winter storm warnings, with Florida House and Senate leaders canceling their meetings for the week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday morning that temperatures statewide will likely not get above freezing, and southern Alabama may get between two and five inches of snow—which would be historic as the last time Mobile, Alabama, got two inches was March 1993 and the last time it got three inches was February 1973.
The Clarion Ledger in Mississippi reported southern Mississippi and Gulfport may get between three and five inches of heavy snowfall, while Hattiesburg could see between one and three inches.
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Is Winter Storm Enzo Impacting Flights?
Yes. As of 4:20 p.m. EST on Tuesday, at least 94% of flights leaving from Houston airports had been canceled and 89% of flights leaving from New Orleans International were canceled, according to FlightAware. Flights incoming were also facing cancellations: 90% of flights coming into Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport were canceled, as were 93% flights to Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport and 90% of flights going into New Orleans. Lafayette Regional Airport in Louisiana closed down on Tuesday morning just after 8 a.m. and canceled all incoming and outgoing flights.
People sled along the hills of Eleanor Tinsley Park in laundry baskets, storage boxes, and other … [+]
Are Schools Closed?
Florida A&M University, Florida State University and the University of West Florida are all closed Tuesday and Wednesday, as were a handful of Florida College system schools including Tallahassee State College and Chipola College. More than 12 school districts in Florida are closed Tuesday, and nearly 30 districts are closed Wednesday, according to the Department of Education. Eight colleges in Mississippi closed or went to remote operations for Tuesday, the Clarion Ledger reported, and 15 public school districts closed Tuesday, Wednesday or both. In Louisiana, LSU largely switched to remote operations Tuesday, as did five other universities and colleges, and dozens of K-12 schools closed, The Advocate reported.
Statues are covered in snow inside New Orleans Musical Legends Park on Bourbon Street on Jan. 21, in … [+]
Big Number
40 million. That’s around how many people were under some type of weather hazard on Tuesday, CBS reported, including 21 million people who were under a winter storm warning. CBS also reported 170 million people nationwide were under an extreme warning or cold weather advisory.
What To Watch For
If any snow records are broken. The Weather Channel reported that Florida could see record snowfall, and New Orleans may, as well. The biggest storm in New Orleans on record was in February 1895 when 8 inches of snow fell.
Contra
The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center said Tuesday that while dangerously cold temperatures are lingering for much of the southern and eastern U.S., dangerous fire weather conditions will persist in southern California. The Storm Prediction Center said there is an “Extremely Critical Risk of fire weather” for the regional mountains around the Los Angeles Basin, with wind gusts potentially reaching 70 to 100 mph.
Further Reading
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