ATLANTA (AP) — Snow and ice across the U.S. South are expected to relinquish their grip only slowly as the weekend continues.
Major airports including Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to report disruptions Saturday, while temperatures are expected to plunge after sundown Saturday, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherous.
“I definitely don’t think everything’s going to completely melt," said Scott Carroll, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Atlanta. "Especially the secondary roads will probably still have some slush on them. And then the big concern after that is that we’re expecting really cold temperatures tonight with the clouds continuing to clear out.”
While flights were operating, airlines were already piling on new cancellations and delays after Friday's weather slowed airline travel to a crawl. By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 300 flights in and out of Atlanta had been canceled, while more than 250 more had been delayed, according to tracking software FlightAware. More than 200 flights in and out of Charlotte had been canceled, while more than 100 were running late.
Sarah Waithera Wanyoike, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, was starting her second day at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday. Wanyoike arrived at the world's busiest airport before sunrise Friday to catch an Ethiopian Airlines flight, on the way to her job in Zimbabwe.
The plane boarded after a delay on Friday, but never left, discharging passengers back to the gate after taxiing around and never taking off for six hours. Wanyoike likened her abortive trip to a “hostage situation,” saying her luggage remained stuck on the plane and she dared not try to go home because she was told to be back at the gate before dawn Saturday.
“People slept with their babies on the floors last night," Wanyoike said.
But Saturday morning found the flight delayed again, and Wanyoike deeply frustrated with a lack of communication from the airline.
“It’s not even on the board at the airport," she said. "There’s no indication that we’re leaving.”
Delta Air Lines, the largest carrier at the Atlanta airport, said late Friday that it was “working to recover” on Saturday, saying cancellations would be worst among morning flights because of crews and airplanes that weren't where they were supposed to be after the airline cancelled 1,100 flights on Friday.
Major roads were mostly clear across the South, but few ventured out early Saturday. Georgia transportation officials urged people to stay off the roads until midday, and the Atlanta Hawks postponed the pro basketball game they were supposed to host Saturday afternoon against the Houston Rockets. The storm that brought snow to the South was forecast to move out to sea off the East Coast on Saturday, leaving behind snow showers in the Appalachian Mountains and New England.
After freezing rain pushed up electricity outages above 110,000 in Georgia on Friday night, many of those outages were being restored Saturday. The National Weather Service reported between 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) and 0.25 inches (0.6 centimeters) of ice accumulation around Atlanta from the freezing rain. That wasn't as bad as forecast, especially in areas south of the city, where temperatures rose enough to prevent icing. But Carroll said high winds Saturday could still pose risks where ice did stick.
“If there are any frozen branches and limbs, it’s possible that some of those can be brought down by the gusty winds during the day today,” Carroll said.
Earlier this week the storm brought heavy snow and slicked roads across much of Texas and Oklahoma before moving east. Arkansas and North Carolina mobilized National Guard troops for tasks such as helping stranded motorists, and governors in multiple states declared states of emergency.
School was canceled on Friday for millions of children from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina, giving them a rare snow day.
The storm piled up more than a year’s worth of snowfall on some cities.
As much as a foot (about 31 centimeters) fell in parts of Arkansas, and there were reports of nearly 10 inches (about 25 centimeters) in Little Rock, which averages 3.8 inches (9.7 centimeters) a year.
More than 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) fell at Memphis International Airport in Tennessee. The city usually sees 2.7 inches (6.9 centimeters) a year.
The storm dumped as much as 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) in some spots in central Oklahoma and northern Texas.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such events are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.
The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area.
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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia; Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City; Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia; Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed.
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Read more of the AP's climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.
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