A significant winter storm that caused school closures, power outages, and flight disruptions across the South has begun to ease as temperatures rise on Sunday.
Utility crews worked diligently, and by Sunday morning, power was restored in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, where tens of thousands of customers had been without electricity in recent days, according to Duke Energy.
In Georgia, power was restored to 97% of customers serviced by Georgia Power, which is the region’s largest utility and provides electricity to all but four counties out of 159.
A statement from the City of Atlanta Government indicated that extra resources had been deployed to expedite the restoration process. “Crews have not slowed down; in fact, we have brought in additional resources to help us get across the finish line,” the press release said.
Dylan Lusk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree, Georgia, noted that much of the winter weather had passed. “For the most part, we are slowly warming up and finally thawing a little bit after snowfall and a coating of freezing rain,” Lusk stated.
While warmer weather was anticipated, some regions continued to experience icy conditions. Officials warned motorists to drive cautiously and be vigilant for slick road spots, especially as nighttime temperatures fell and melted snow and ice refroze.
The National Weather Service cautioned, “Black ice will return as temperatures drop below freezing this evening through Monday morning.”
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, excessive ice required deicing for planes, resulting in over 100 flight delays on Sunday— an improvement from Saturday, during which about 1,000 flights were either canceled or delayed, according to FlightAware.com. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, officials reported that airport operations had returned to normal.
Earlier in the week, the storm had deposited heavy snowfall, with some areas receiving up to 7 inches (approximately 18 centimeters) in places like Texas and Oklahoma before moving to the eastern U.S.
Several locations experienced a year’s worth of snowfall in just a few days. In Arkansas, accumulations reached as much as a foot (about 31 centimeters), and in Memphis, where an annual average is just 2.7 inches (6.9 centimeters), the Memphis International Airport measured over 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) of snow.
Atlanta experienced more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow on Friday, marking the first occasion since 2018 that the city received more than an inch of snowfall, as reported by the National Weather Service.
While Gulf Coast residents were warned of expected rain showers for Sunday and Monday, other parts of the U.S. brace for snow and an influx of cold, arctic air, particularly affecting the Great Lakes region.
Although weather conditions are predicted to improve, some organizations— including places of worship— announced persistently closed doors for Sunday.
Friday’s storm-related conditions led to school cancellations for millions of children across states from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina, granting them a rare snow day. In northern Alabama, officials announced that schools might remain closed on Monday if ice fails to thaw from secondary roads.
