Another strong, disruptive winter weather event will unfold across the U.S. this week, but this time the Gulf Coast is preparing for impacts.
Polar air is plunging south from Canada to start the week and meeting with moisture across the Gulf Coast from East Texas to Florida. As a center of low pressure moves over the Gulf, the storm will strengthen and bring snowfall of 3-5 inches, ice accumulation of up to 1 inch, and temperatures down into the upper teens and low 20s.
Forecasters are calling this a “once in a generation” snow event as the far southern parts of the US have only recorded measurable snowfall a handful of times.
Houston, New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, are all bracing for major impacts due to the snow and ice; all cities lack infrastructure to easily deal with even minor accumulations, so anything over 1-2 inches will cause significant damage and interruption to services including transportation. Ice accumulations will cause power outages and slick travel and snow accumulations will impact roadways likely causing accidents.
Both Houston Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport have suspended passenger and cargo flight operations on Tuesday due to the expected conditions.
The National Weather Service in Mobile says to expect “significant and long lasting impacts” as cold temperatures will linger through the end of the week.
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