More winter weather leads to heavy snow, canceled flights and, in Florida, falling iguanas
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A wide swath of the United States from the Gulf Coast to New England grappled with frigid temperatures following Sunday’s extreme cold. bomb cyclone Heavy snowfall and hundreds of flight cancellations in North Carolina, downpours and falling iguanas in Florida, and last weekend’s ice storm in the South have brought further misery to thousands still without power.
About 150 million people in the eastern U.S. are under cold weather warnings and extreme cold warnings, with near-zero or single-digit wind chills in the South and the coldest air mass seen since December 1989 in South Florida, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with a weather forecast center in College Park, Maryland.
Tampa-St. Snowfall and temperatures in the Petersburg area of Florida on Sunday morning were in the 20s in the Panhandle and in the 30s in South Florida, Mullinax said. This caused the cold-stunned iguanas to remain prostrate and motionless on the ground. Iguanas in South Florida remain dormant in the cold, and although they often wake up when temperatures rise, the reptiles can die after more than a day of extreme cold. The cold also left icicles on strawberries and oranges in the state.
Meanwhile, the bomb cyclone, known to meteorologists as an intense, rapidly strengthening weather system, contributed to nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in and around North Carolina’s largest city, Charlotte. Mullinax said the snowfall represents there top five snow events of all time.
Flight cancellations in the United States exceeded 2,800 on Saturday and 1,500 on Sunday, according to flight tracking and data company FlightAware. Nearly 800 of Sunday’s cancellations were for flights departing or arriving at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
According to the State Highway Patrol, the storm caused hours-long confusion on Interstate 85 northeast of the city; After that, dozens of semis and other vehicles were left behind until the evening, according to the State Highway Patrol. More than 1,000 traffic accidents and two deaths have been reported, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said Sunday.
“It’s an impressive result for sure and the daily records seen across the South,” Mullinax said.
Lee Harrison, an insurance agent in a town outside of Greenville, North Carolina, had a snow-covered neighborhood in his neighborhood and he planned to take his three daughters sledding in the backyard.
“We’re not going to drive anywhere,” Harrison said. “It’s too thick for me to feel comfortable driving with our family.”
More than 110 deaths have been reported so far. More than 97,000 customers were still without power Sunday in Tennessee and Mississippi, two states hit by a storm that brought snow and ice last weekend, according to the outage tracking website. power outage.us. Another 29,000 people were without power in Florida on Sunday.
Nashville Electric Service said it expects 90 percent of its customers to have their power restored by Tuesday, while 99 percent expect it to have power restored by next Sunday, two weeks after the ice and snow storm began.
Gov. Bill Lee said he shared “strong concerns” with the utility’s administration, which defended its response and said the storm was unprecedented.
Mississippi officials say this is the worst situation in the state winter storm About 80 warming centers opened and National Guard troops distributed supplies by truck and helicopter.
Mullinax said parts of the Carolinas will continue to “dig in” for several days as they deal with high winds and bitterly cold wind chills. He said light snow could fall in the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and Wednesday, from Washington D.C. to possibly New York City. ___
Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California, Julie Walker in New York and other reporters from around the country contributed.
