Once-in-a-generation winter storm hits US

IANS January 22, 2025 190 views

A once-in-a-generation winter storm has swept across the southern United States, impacting an incredible 235 million people with snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. The storm has brought entire regions to a standstill, with schools, government offices, and businesses closed and travel severely restricted. Major highways like Interstate 10 have been shut down, and airports across multiple states have suspended operations. Governors have declared states of emergency, highlighting the extraordinary and dangerous nature of this rare weather event.

"Most of us haven't experienced this combination of bitter cold and significant snow ever in our lifetime" - Jay Grymes, Louisiana Climatologist
Houston, Jan 22: From Texas to Louisiana and Florida, a wide swath of the southern United States braced for a once-in-a-generation winter storm with heavy snow, sleet and ice, which created hazardous travel conditions for the region unaccustomed to bitterly cold weather.

Key Points

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Unprecedented winter storm creates hazardous conditions across southern states

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Over 2,100 flights cancelled due to severe weather

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NWS issues first-ever blizzard warning for Louisiana and Texas

Up to 235 million Americans were affected by the storm, which the US National Weather Service (NWS) described as "a generational winter storm event."

For the first time, the NWS issued a blizzard warning for parts of southern Louisiana and far eastern Texas, where heavy snow and strong wind gusts combined to create whiteout conditions, reports Xinhua news agency.

Roads overnight and Tuesday would be "extremely hazardous if not impossible for much of the area, and travel is highly discouraged," the NWS warned.

Schools, government offices, as well as many shops and restaurants, were closed across the region on Tuesday. Numerous roads were covered with snow and some with ice mix. Wind chills on Tuesday morning made temperatures drop into the teens for much of the Gulf Coast, with single-digit values in northern Texas.

More than 2,100 flights into or out of affected airports across the region, most coming from Texas and Louisiana, were cancelled on Tuesday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. A number of airports in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, also suspended operations due to the storm.

Large sections of Interstate 10 in Texas and Louisiana, the Gulf Coast states' major thoroughfare, were closed Tuesday due to treacherous conditions.

Houston, the biggest city in Texas, recorded widespread three to six inches of snow while more than half a foot of snow had fallen by Tuesday afternoon in parts of southern Louisiana.

In one location just north of Rayne, Louisiana, 10.5 inches of snow had been recorded before noon, said a CNN report, adding that snow even covered sandy beaches along Texas' coast on Tuesday morning.

The governors of Gulf Coast states, including Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, have issued a state of emergency to address the once-in-a-generation storm.

"Our infrastructure is designed differently than states that are used to this (winter weather)," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on Tuesday, warning that driving in icy conditions "can be very, very hazardous."

"Most of us haven't experienced this combination of bitter cold and significant snow ever in our lifetime," Louisiana climatologist Jay Grymes said on Monday.

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