Below-Freezing Overnight Lows Will Amplify the Wintry Impacts in the South

A double whammy of weather impacts is making life miserable for much of the southern U.S. this week. Right on the heels of a catastrophic ice event, a wave of Arctic air coming down from Canada will add to the misery in this part of the country.

Arctic Air Will Amplify Hazards of Snow and Ice Left by Winter Storm

The influx of Arctic air is forecast to linger across the South from Texas to Georgia throughout the week. The persistent cold will keep the ice that coated the region over the weekend in place for quite some time. The arrival of frigid temperatures is particularly bad news for areas that are still without power. According to PowerOutage.US, over 1 million customers were without power during the peak of the outages. While power is slowly returning, the sheer vastness of the outages means that the restoration process will be a slow go.

The weekend storm dropped up to 5 inches of sleet in the hardest-hit areas. A coating of freezing rain produced over an inch of ice in some areas of the South. For instance, the town of Oxford, Mississippi, reported 1 to 2 inches of freezing rain that piled up on roadways, power lines, and trees. Dozens of trees in the community have sustained severe damage as a result of the ice paired with the winds.