South gets a coat of snow
ATLANTA — Winter weather turned travel treacherous across the South, shutting down interstates in Louisiana, causing highway crashes in Kentucky and closing airport runways in Texas as snow turned the red clay white and prompted schools to close across the region.
Snow was falling Tuesday afternoon in a wide band that stretched from southeast Texas all the way to western Massachusetts.
Snow began falling during the predawn hours Tuesday in Louisiana, where highways were closed in and around Shreveport as the winter weather system took aim at other states, forecasters said.
With the weather system moving east and plunging temperatures expected right behind it, winter storm warnings were issued for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Dangerous wind chills prompted school systems to close Tuesday across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri.
In Kentucky, multiple crashes closed a 10-mile section of Interstate 24 on the west side of the state and blocked southbound lanes of Interstate 65 in south-central Kentucky, including a five-vehicle pileup that involved a Greyhound bus, authorities said.
In Tennessee, forecasters called for up to 6 inches of snow in the central part of the state, which includes the Nashville area.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at Texas airports — including Houston, San Antonio and Austin — where frigid temperatures left runways dangerously icy. Forecasters warned mariners of gale-force winds.
In Louisiana, state officials said both lanes of Interstate 49 in the Shreveport area were closed early Tuesday. Parts of Interstate 20 and Interstate 220 were also closed.
“We’ve got numerous crashes on the interstates and surface roads,” Louisiana State Trooper Glenn Younger said Tuesday.
Ice had coated roads and bridges in 36 of Mississippi’s 82 counties, mostly in the northern and central parts of the state, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said in a statement Tuesday.
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency. Numerous businesses and government offices closed because of the threat.
Alabama officials were trying to avoid a repeat of four years ago, when a winter storm blanketed central Alabama and left motorists stranded on roads in metro Birmingham for hoursl.
Forecasters didn’t predict a large amount of snow for Alabama — just 2 inches or less with more in spots. But they said temperatures steadily falling into the teens could freeze anything that comes down.
Drivers had a hard time navigating hills around Haleyville, where roads quickly turned white Tuesday morning, but there was still plenty of traffic because manufacturing plants that didn’t close in advance began dismissing workers, store clerk Rose Payne said.