A heavy mix of snow and sleet on Friday swept across parts of the South that are not used to winter weather, prompting flight cancellations, school closures and official warnings to stay off the roads when possible.
A winter storm warning stretched from eastern Oklahoma to Virginia, the National Weather Service said, and a mix of snow and freezing rain was falling in cities including Jackson, Miss.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Atlanta on Friday morning.
Parts of western Arkansas had more than a foot of snow, with heavy snowfall Friday morning piling on accumulation from the previous day. From Friday into Saturday, parts of the Mid-Atlantic, the Ohio Valley and the Northeast could see between one and five inches of snow.
The widespread mix of wintry precipitation led to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights in and out of airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville and Charlotte, N.C., on Friday.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where nearly 60 percent of outgoing flights had been canceled or delayed, a ground stop was issued for all incoming Delta flights after an aborted takeoff led to passengers on a Delta plane being evacuated onto the snowy runway, according to the F.A.A.
The icy, snowy mix made streets and highways treacherous across a wide swath of the South. The Mississippi Department of Transportation said on social media that ice had been reported in 31 counties across the state, and urged drivers to be cautious. In Atlanta, where public schools were closed in anticipation of freezing rain and snow, the morning rush hour slowed to a crawl as flurries caked city streets and highways. Motorists who ventured out found themselves stranded on roadsides.
A section of Interstate 22, a 200-mile route going through Mississippi and Alabama, was shut down because of a crash in Marshall County, in the north-central part of Mississippi.
“If you’re trying to get on the roads, don’t get on them,” Gov. Brian P. Kemp of Georgia said in a news conference on Friday, warning that with temperatures remaining near the freezing mark, the mix of snow and icy rain would likely make roads hazardous through Sunday.
Early on Friday in Atlanta, snow gave way to sleet. Children fumbled through the slush at downtown’s iconic Centennial Olympic Park. A driver in a Subaru WRX spun out into a curb nearby. Most shops and restaurants were closed.
But not Waffle House. Benji Waugh, a customer, knew the famously resilient breakfast joint would be open for business. “Living in the South, anytime there’s a hurricane or a tornado or some kind of storm, everywhere shuts down,” he said, while wolfing down a bacon, egg and cheese bowl. He added: “But it’s just easy to go to Waffle House, because they’re always open.”
Mr. Kemp had declared a state of emergency on Thursday in anticipation of the storm, as did his counterparts in Tennessee and Arkansas. While Tennessee is familiar with winter storms, some areas, like Memphis, could receive their largest two-day snow totals in 40 years. Parts of the state are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which moved through the state as a tropical storm in September. Six inches of snow was reported in Memphis as of 11 a.m. Eastern, the Weather Service said.
Across North Carolina, a similar scenario was expected to unfold around midday Friday and last into Saturday.
Accumulations of up to two inches are currently expected in the Mid-Atlantic area east of the Allegheny Mountains. The storm is then expected to move off the coast, where it will strengthen but remain far enough away to avoid being a major hazard for the Northeast.
Unusual cold across the East Coast is expected to continue into next week, allowing for some snow to stick around. And areas where the snow has melted during the day may refreeze at night, creating ongoing hazards.
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and Sean Keenancontributed reporting from Atlanta.