- New Orleans received its first measurable snow in 15 years.
- The storm has impacted 1,500 miles of the Deep South, from Texas to the Carolinas.
- Snowfall records were broken in several cities, including New Orleans and cities in Florida.
On Tuesday, New Orleans received its first measurable snow in 15 years, and on Wednesday the same storm moved further east to Florida.
According to The New York Times, with the cold and the snow, Louisiana hasn’t had winter weather like this since the 1960s.
The storm has caused at least nine deaths, per CNN. It has impacted 1,500 miles of the Deep South, from the Texas Gulf Coast to the eastern coast of the Carolinas.
The storm started in Texas, then moved east dumping snow across Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, per The Associated Press.
This snowstorm was caused by a blast of Arctic air which also caused much of the Midwest and eastern U.S. to go into a deep freeze.
Snow and ice has caused more than 150 miles of I-10 in Louisiana and Florida to be closed, along with other highways and more than one million students had school canceled or switched to remote learning, according to the AP.
The snow has stopped falling, but the cold is still sticking around and the icy conditions also remain. Icy roads, specifically black ice remain a major concern in the states affected by the storms.
“Many cities are begging residents to avoid driving as the sun melts snow that then refreezes, increasing the danger on roadways,” per CNN.
Airports in Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida have been closed and 1,200 flights have been canceled.
The snowfall broke multiple records
The modern all-time daily snowfall record for New Orleans was shattered on Tuesday, with the city receiving eight inches. The previous record was 2.7 inches, per CNN.
New Orleans has seen more snow this month than Anchorage, Alaska, which has received two inches so far in January.
According to CNN, other Southern cities also had records broken. Mobile, Alabama, received 7.5 inches breaking its previous record of 3.6 inches from 1973.
Pensacola, Florida’s previous record was 2.3 inches, and it was broken by the city receiving 7.6 inches. Another Florida city, Milton, received at least 8.8 inches, which could break the state-wide snow record.
How the storm caused multiple deaths
According to CNN, at least nine deaths across the country have been reported because of the severe cold and the winter storm.
There were at least five people who died on Tuesday in a car accident that was caused by ice on the roads in Zavala County, Texas.
Two other deaths are being investigated in Austin as potentially cold-related, though the causes of death have not been confirmed.
In Milwaukee, an 80-year-old man is said to have died from hypothermia after he fell outside on Sunday. Another hypothermia related death has been reported in Georgia, per CNN.