A punishing winter storm that began to hammer the South on Sunday is set to continue its onslaught today over a 1,000-mile stretch from Texas to the Carolinas. Snow, sleet and freezing rain will make travel dangerous if not impossible across much of the region.
The same storm will then make a turn up the East Coast and threaten the Northeast with yet another potentially crippling snowstorm Tuesday and Wednesday.
The governors of Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia issued emergency declarations.
In Atlanta, 3-5 inches of snow was predicted overnight and into today, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Ressler. Sleet and freezing rain will also add to the misery.
In advance of the storm, hundreds of flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world's busiest airport.
Delta Airlines canceled 330 flights starting about 8 p.m. Sunday and then canceled 1,400 more flights for today. AirTran Airways spokesman Christopher White said the company canceled 14 flights Sunday and 270 for today.
Ressler said snow today will stretch all the way from the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma to North Carolina and northwest South Carolina. AccuWeather forecasts that the heaviest snow will fall from extreme southern Arkansas to the mountains of western North Carolina, where 6-12 inches of accumulation is expected.
To the south, where warm air will mix into the storm, the snow and sleet should give way to sleet and freezing rain.
In northern Florida, severe thunderstorms could lead to damaging wind gusts and even a tornado, Ressler said.
Once the storm moves away from the South, the Weather Channel predicts it will move along the Eastern Seaboard and result in a snowstorm for the Northeast Tuesday into Wednesday.
"Heavy snowfall, with amounts of up to a foot," could hit from New York City to Boston and Maine, AccuWeather meteorologist Meghan Evans said.
ctms will continue to monitor the situation and upon notification of any cancellations contact affected travellers to make alternative arrangements.
