Bitter chilly is gripping giant components of the South as soon as once more this weekend, creating hazardous situations for hundreds of thousands in a area not accustomed to freezing temperatures.
On Saturday morning, it was 5 levels in Louisville, Ky., 9 levels in Nashville, 20 levels in Little Rock, Ark., and 21 levels in Atlanta. A number of states have been underneath wind chill advisories and different freeze warnings as frigid temperatures have been anticipated to proceed into Sunday.
The intense chilly, which adopted days of subfreezing temperatures earlier within the week, was not restricted to the South, with single-digit temperatures reported from the Northern Plains to New England.
However for states that don’t usually expertise extended durations of ice and bitter wind chills, the previous week has been significantly harsh. In Tennessee, the place extreme winter climate started final Sunday and the chilly snap has lingered for days, well being authorities have confirmed a minimum of 19 weather-related deaths. And issues at water utilities had authorities advising 1000’s of residents to boil their water earlier than consuming it. Water points additionally affected many components of Arkansas, the place the Nationwide Guard assisted communities in delivering potable water.
Within the Nashville space, the heavy snowfall that fell earlier this week — as a lot as eight inches — had changed into thick sheets of ice on many streets and sidewalks by Friday. Colleges have been closed for all the week, and residents have been inspired to remain off the roads.
On Saturday morning, Beverly Burton, 64, walked a number of blocks to the grocery retailer for meals, staying off slick sidewalks and strolling on the street with a small cart. She was bundled in an extended tan coat, pink hat, gloves and a plaid scarf.
“I’m ready for it to be over,” Ms. Burton mentioned. Speaking about winter storms, she added that “we get them, but we don’t get them like this.”
Greater than 700 residents sheltered at Nashville’s two homeless shelters, together with about 300 to 375 extra on the metropolis’s overflow shelter that opens throughout freezing temperatures.
One shelter, Room within the Inn, mentioned that some spiritual organizations that usually would transport individuals to the shelter needed to cancel due to icy roads.
“It’s the snow and the ice that, in the South, it shuts us down,” mentioned Rachel Hester, Room within the Inn’s director. “We become paralyzed. We don’t have the infrastructure.”
Tony Stokes, 58, has been at one of many shelters all week. Final Sunday, he mentioned, he initially tried to spend the evening underneath an overpass however awakened shivering and surrounded by snowflakes. “I just laid there, and it got a little too chilly for me,” mentioned Mr. Stokes, who has been unable to afford housing since transferring from Georgia a 12 months in the past. “You think you can tough it out.”
Metro Nashville workers members made welfare checks on senior and disabled residents by cellphone as a substitute of in individual due to highway situations, in keeping with town’s social providers officers.
Sam Siple, an official with Nashville Rescue Mission, a nonprofit shelter, mentioned demand for providers has been particularly excessive.
Icy roads have meant fewer volunteers, and workers members have been stretched skinny with extra individuals to arrange for. Some staff have needed to keep in a single day, he mentioned. “It has been an intense week,” Mr. Siple mentioned.
The freezing climate comes simply months after a lot of the South skilled a brutal summer season of unrelenting warmth and humidity, and weeks after scientists concluded that 2023 was the planet’s hottest 12 months on report. Because the world warms, chilly spells can nonetheless happen every now and then, although they’re turning into much less frequent and fewer extreme in lots of locations. And despite the fact that a lot of america is at present experiencing icier-than-normal situations, Earth as a complete has been hotter than common this month due to unusually excessive temperatures in different components of the globe.
On Saturday, the National Weather Service warned of a weekend stuffed with Arctic air that can “dominate the eastern two-thirds of the country.”
Within the Mid-Atlantic and Jap areas — particularly components of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania — winter storm warnings have been in impact on Saturday morning, with heavy snow and slippery situations anticipated.
Farther south, below-freezing temperatures have been forecast to unfold to a lot of the Gulf Coast area besides southern Texas and the southern half of the Florida Peninsula. The chilly air was additionally anticipated to proceed to set off extra lake-effect snow within the Nice Lakes area on Saturday.
In Knoxville, Tenn., which is underneath a wind chill advisory till Sunday morning, Erin Learn, the manager director of the Knoxville-Knox County Workplace of Housing Stability, was bracing for one more weekend of dangerously chilly air.
Warming facilities in Knoxville have sheltered over 270 individuals to date, Ms. Learn mentioned, including that town acquired two years’ price of snow in a single week.
When the warming facilities initially opened final week, they exceeded their capability of 125 individuals on the second day, Ms. Learn mentioned. There are 4 facilities open now, and they’re nonetheless over capability. However they’ve made house.
“The bright spot is that we’ve been able to shelter everyone who wants to be inside,” Ms. Learn mentioned. “No one has been turned away.”
Raymond Zhong contributed reporting.
