A severe snowstorm is hitting the southern US, intensifying a deadly cold snap that has already claimed over 100 lives and threatens record lows in Florida.
A powerful snowstorm bore down on southern US states on Saturday, intensifying a deadly blast of icy weather across regions unaccustomed to such extreme cold.
The National Weather Service warned an explosively deepening coastal cyclone would bring heavy snow, high winds, and possible blizzard conditions to the Carolinas.
“Heavy snows were falling Saturday morning in North Carolina and neighboring states,” authorities reported.
They urged residents to stay off roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened.
The freezing weather forced NASA to postpone a key fueling test for its Moon rocket at Florida’s Cape Canaveral.
This delay is likely to push back a planned manned Moon flyby slated for next month by at least several days.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for all of North and South Carolina, extending into parts of Georgia, eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Virginia.
“An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning,” the service stated.
It added South Florida could experience its coldest temperatures since 1989.
In South Carolina’s capital Columbia, public works prepared its eight snow plows for their first deployment in five years.
Temperatures there were forecast to plunge to a low of -9C over the weekend, far below the January average of 2C to 15C.
The new cold front follows a major winter storm that has killed more than 100 people, according to official and local media tallies.
That earlier storm blanketed a vast area from New Mexico to Maine in snow, sleet, and icy rain.
Nearly 200,000 customers remained without power on Saturday, mostly in southern states like Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
In North Carolina, the National Park Service closed campgrounds and some beaches at the vulnerable Outer Banks barrier islands.
A section of highway threading through the dunes was also closed due to the threat to oceanfront structures.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped install generators at critical sites.
Authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centers across the state.
