Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Four people have died due to a historic winter storm affecting the Gulf Coast.
- The storm has caused record snowfall, airport closures, and travel disruptions across the region.
- States of emergency are declared in multiple states as cold temperatures persist.
NEW YORK — At least four people are believed to have died as a result of the dangerous cold gripping much of the country, as a once-in-a-generation winter storm wreaks havoc on the Gulf Coast— a region wholly unaccustomed to winter weather.
Officials in Austin, Texas, are investigating two deaths as suspected cold-related deaths, according to the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. While the medical examiner's office has not made a final determination of the causes of death, "they are currently suspected to be cold related due to the circumstances," it said.
Both people were found outside, the agency said. CNN has reached out to the medical examiner for more information.
Meantime, one person in Georgia died from hypothermia after being exposed to freezing temperatures, officials said at a news conference Tuesday. The individual was outside Monday night, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director James Stallings said.
The fourth death is similarly being investigated as a "probable hypothermia death," involving an 80-year-old man in Milwaukee who fell outdoors early Sunday, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.
While the cold has proved deadly, the reported deaths come as footage from across the Gulf Coast shows snow blanketing implausible places, causing surreal wintry scenes: in New Orleans' French Quarter, where street performers sang for passersby; on the grass at the Florida border; and on the white sand beaches of Orange Beach, Alabama.
"I've never seen anything like this," Brennan Matherne wrote on X, where he shared footage of snow falling in Cut Off, Louisiana, "and probably never will again."
Snow is falling from southeast Texas through Louisiana and into parts of Mississippi and Alabama Tuesday, creating treacherous conditions. An area stretching from Houston into southern Louisiana has recorded widespread 3 to 6 inches of snow, with at least one locale hitting the double-digit mark. Florida has likely broken its all-time statewide snow record, with at least 5.5 inches recorded in Molino – a record that has stood since 1954. Mobile, Alabama, has so far recorded more than 5 inches of snow, breaking a 143-year-old record for one-day snowfall. A record amount of snow is forecast for New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf Coast.
Heavy snow and strong wind gusts combined to create whiteout conditions in southern Louisiana, where snow totals of 3 to 6 inches are already widespread. It prompted the first-ever blizzard warning anywhere along the Gulf Coast from the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, for parts of southern Louisiana and far eastern Texas.
Snow has closed or hindered operations at multiple airports in the South, contributing to the more than 2,200 flight cancellations into or out of U.S. airports Tuesday – and more than 500 so far Wednesday. Large sections of Interstate 10 — the Gulf Coast's major thoroughfare — in Texas and Louisiana are closed Tuesday as snow and some icy mix make travel difficult to impossible. Major roads were closed across the New Orleans area. Schools and government offices are closed Tuesday throughout the Gulf Coast and states of emergency are active in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
Low temperatures and wind chills from the Canadian border to the Mexican border are hitting dangerous levels for the second consecutive day. Wind chills Tuesday morning dropped into the teens for much of the Gulf Coast with single-digit values in northern Texas.
'Generational winter storm' hitting the South
Brutally cold temperatures are allowing an incredibly unusual storm to unfold along the Gulf Coast.
Snow, and an icy mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, expanded in the early hours of Tuesday and ramped up throughout the morning.
The sweeping system is "a generational winter storm event," the National Weather Service said Monday — and urged those along its path to take it seriously.
Roads overnight and Tuesday will be "extremely hazardous if not impossible for much of the area, and travel is highly discouraged," the service said. Hundreds of flights in the region already have been canceled. And schools are closed in states including Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina.
The complex mess of wintry weather spread east to reach more of Mississippi and into Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and the western Florida Panhandle throughout the day.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp warned people in the state to stay off roads because the sudden onset of snow later in the day, in places like Atlanta, could catch people off guard. Indeed, there were impacts to the roadways by early evening, particularly south of Interstate 20, according to Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Natalie Dale. "Plow crews are having trouble treating some areas due to non-incident related congestion," she said, encouraging motorists to avoid travel.
"This could deteriorate very quickly like it did in 2014," Gov. Kemp said. A few inches of snow that year paralyzed Atlanta with countless traffic incidents that trapped drivers in what became known as "Snowmageddon."
Tuesday's snowfall could break records set decades ago and possibly rival records from the late 1800s.
Snow even covered sandy beaches along Texas' coast Tuesday morning.
The rare winter storm comes as 33 million people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina under winter weather alerts, with more than 200 million people in the US affected by bitterly cold air more broadly. The Upper Midwest and Northern Plains recorded wind chills to 50 degrees below zero Monday and were experiencing 40 degrees below zero Tuesday morning — temperatures that can cause frostbite on exposed skin in a matter of minutes.
