ICY CONDITIONS
Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina each declared a state of emergency, telling motorists to stay off the roads.
“Residents should make plans to ensure that they are prepared for prolonged freezing conditions and icy roadways,” Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said.
RARE WEATHER
Temperatures were forecast to hit a low of -5 degrees Celsius in New Orleans on the night of January 28.
The last flight left New Orleans at about 11 am local time on January 28 and its Louis Armstrong International Airport was then closed to commercial traffic ahead of the predicted ice storm. Authorities also shut the 39-kilometre Causeway Bridge, which spans Lake Pontchartrain, because of icy conditions.
Residents and tourists excited by the novelty of the conditions took photos of icicles hanging from wrought-iron balconies in the city’s historic French Quarter.
“This is pretty rare in New Orleans,” Mike Efferson of the National Weather Service Office in Slidell, Louisiana, said of the conditions. “This only happens about every 10 years.”
SNOW EXPECTED
Schools and government offices across many parts of the country were closed. Airlines cancelled or delayed thousands of flights, and officials closed many roads as conditions worsened. North Carolina and South Carolina were expected to get the most snow, according to local weather services.