By Georgina McCartney and Brendan O'Brien
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A rare winter storm lashed the US Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow, ice and strong winds to an area where flurries are rare, while much of the United States remained in dangerously icy conditions.
As the storm moved east, workers near Houston were plowing freeways, while downtown streets, blanketed in white, were almost deserted during the morning rush hour.
In downtown Houston, few people ventured into the snow as some restaurants and bars remained closed. The Houston railroad was running but passengers were scarce. Schools were closed Tuesday and Wednesday as the city expected about 10 centimeters of snow to fall.
“I've lived in Texas my whole life and I've never seen snow this deep,” said Ishan Bhaidani, 29, who owns a fintech consulting firm in Houston. “It's getting more icy but this kind of beautiful snow, it's a first.”
Authorities in Houston are investigating two possible weather-related deaths, including a homeless man who was found dead near a home, the County Sheriff told X.
Snow was also falling in New Orleans, where eight inches are expected to accumulate by the end of the day, threatening to tie the record set in 1895. The last time the city received any measurable snowfall was 2009, according to the National. Weather Service.
“Stay home and stay on the roads,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said as winds blew snow into her face in a video message to residents on the X.
The storm is expected to make landfall in Mississippi, Georgia and Florida early this week. Up to five inches of snow is forecast for Mobile, Alabama, where such accumulations haven't been seen in more than 60 years, according to the NWS.
A blizzard warning was in effect for 31 million people — from south Texas east to Georgia and north to the Carolinas and Virginia — Tuesday through Wednesday morning, the service said.
Hundreds of flights in and out of regional airports were delayed or canceled Tuesday morning. Some 960 flights from or to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport have been canceled, according to Flightaware.com.
Temperatures were expected to dip to one fahrenheit, below freezing, throughout the region on Tuesday. Meteorologists and local leaders urged residents to protect themselves from frost and take measures to prevent water pipes from bursting.
Across the South, the snow, combined with inches of ice accumulation and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour (64 kph), could make road and wind travel difficult for several days, while threatening to bring down power lines and trees, forecasters said. he said.
In southeast Texas, 30,000 homes and businesses were without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
“While we experienced a few outages, our overall system remained stable,” CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:), which provides electricity to the Houston area, said in a statement.
Texas ports and pilots, who help guide ships, halted some operations Monday as freezing weather hit the state.
Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama, opened heating centers and closed government offices in anticipation of the storm. Several district schools have canceled classes, according to local media.
Up north, more than two-thirds of the United States was experiencing freezing temperatures as an Arctic front was expected to linger through at least Tuesday.
It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21 degrees Celsius) in Chicago, 5 F in Cleveland and 11 F in New York City, the NWS said. Those morning readings were cool compared to the -39 F (-39 C) recorded near Grand Lake, Colorado, the coldest place in the US on Tuesday morning.