Another burst of winter storms start to track across the South

Schools and buildings from Texas to Georgia were shut down Thursday or prepared to close ahead of freezing rain and snow forecast for much of the Southern U.S. as another burst of plunging temperatures and winter storms threatened to again snarl travel.

Texas schools canceled classes for more than 1 million students in anticipation of icy and potentially dangerous conditions that could last into Friday. Closures also kept students home in Kansas City and Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, while Virginia’s capital, Richmond, remained under a weather-related boil advisory.

In the Dallas area, crews treated roads ahead of the expected arrival of 2 to 4 inches of snow Thursday. Up to 5 inches was expected farther north near Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service.

Roads could be slick Friday as 75,000 fans were expected head to AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the college football championship semifinal between Texas and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

A mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain was expected along a stretch from New Mexico to Alabama. Forecasters said the heaviest amounts were likely in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.

As much as 8 inches of snow could fall in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through Saturday, the weather service said.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Director Patrick Sheehan said he expected schools across the state to close Friday, although decisions will be made at the local level.

Some parts of Kansas have received nearly an entire year’s average of snow over the past few days, hitting farmers and ranchers “in ways that we haven’t seen in this area for a very, very long time, potentially a lifetime,” said Chip Redmond, a meteorologist at Kansas State University.

In northern Florida, growers were most concerned about ferns that are cultivated for floral arrangements, with Valentine’s Day only a month away.



(AP Photo Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle via AP)