A rare winter storm hit Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing snow to places like New Orleans and Houston, which are not used to such weather. The storm caused highway closures, flight cancellations, and school closures, affecting over a million students. For the first time, blizzard warnings were issued for coastal areas near the Texas-Louisiana border, and snowplows were ready in parts of Florida.
In Austin, Texas, two people died due to the cold. Emergency crews responded to many cold-related calls. A person also died from hypothermia in Georgia.
Snow even covered beaches in places like Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach, Florida. The storm, which brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain, was part of a larger wave of Arctic air that chilled much of the Midwest and East Coast. Some unusual sights were seen, like snowball fights on beaches in Gulf Shores and sledding in Montgomery, Alabama, using laundry baskets.
In New Orleans, people had fun in the snow with urban skiing on Bourbon Street, snowball fights outside churches, and sledding on levees with kayaks and inflatable alligators. It was the most snow the city had seen in more than a decade.
In Houston, the storm was another extreme weather event, following the devastation of Hurricane Beryl earlier in the year. The storm brought the most snow the city had seen in many years. Nearly 2,000 flights were canceled, and many airports, including those in Houston and New Orleans, stopped operations.
Governors in several states, including Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, declared emergencies as the storm moved east. Schools were closed, and people were advised to stay off the roads. Snow also reached parts of the Florida Panhandle, which is rarely affected by snow. In Mobile, Alabama, the city saw more than 5 inches of snow, breaking a record set over 100 years ago.
The storm was caused by a disturbance in the polar vortex, which is cold air usually found near the North Pole. The cold snap affected the eastern U.S., with temperatures expected to slowly return to normal by the end of the week. In New York, up to 2 feet of snow and freezing temperatures were expected near Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Wind chills in the Dakotas and Upper Midwest were forecast to reach dangerously low temperatures through Friday.
Meanwhile, Southern California was still at risk for wildfires, as dry conditions and strong winds known as Santa Ana winds were expected to continue.
