A hugely impactful winter storm will impact the Gulf of Mexico region through Wednesday, bringing snow and ice to a large swath of the country that rarely sees wintry precipitation.
Today we will see Arctic air interacting with Gulf of Mexico moisture and causing widespread snow, freezing rain and sleet to the Deep South and the Gulf Coast. This is a weather setup common for hundreds of miles to the north but not for this region of the country. Southern cities such as Houston, New Orleans, Biloxi, Miss. and Tallahassee, Fla. will experience snow and ice, causing major travel headaches.
Winter Storm Warnings are currently in place from the lower Rio Grande northeastward along the Gulf of Mexico coast all the way to coastal areas of the Carolinas and Georgia and portions of northern Florida. Cities in this warning include Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas, Lake Charles and New Orleans, La., Gulfport, Miss., Tallahassee, Gainesville and Panama City, Fla., Savannah, Ga., Charleston and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Amazingly, in the heart of this area there is even a Blizzard Warning along the Gulf Coast of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. This region includes Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas and Lake Charles and Cameron, La. Winter Weather Advisories are found to the north of the warnings, including in central Texas, central and northern Louisiana, central regions of both Alabama and Mississippi, northern and central Georgia and parts of the Carolinas and extreme southeast Virginia.
Snow and sleet will accumulate to amounts that will make travel nearly impossible in some areas. Houston could see as much as much as 2 to 4 inches of snow and sleet, with New Orleans likely to pick up an incredible 3 to 5 inches of snow. A decent sized plot of land northwest of New Orleans could say 6 to 8 inches of snow. Northern Florida and southern Georgia could potentially seeing a tenth to three tenths of an inch of ice and 1-2 inches of snow. Cities in this area are Tallahassee, Fla. and Waycross, Ga.
With roads likely to be snow-covered and slick, it is imperative that if you do not need to go out in these areas, please remain at home! This is especially true considering that this region of the country simply does not have the amount of equipment needed to keep the roadways safe for travel.