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Forecast risk of winter weather for Thursday
By Judson Jones
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times. He reported from Atlanta.
Jan. 9, 2025
Snow and sleet blanketed parts of northern Texas, Oklahoma and western Arkansas on Thursday as forecasters warned that “heavy snow and disruptive ice” would pile up across the South through the end of the week.
On Thursday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport where over 1,400 flights scheduled for Thursday were canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. More than 200 flights were canceled at Dallas Love Field Airport.
In Georgia, the National Weather Service elevated their forecast and issued a winter storm warning for the northern half of the state, including Atlanta. Forecasters expect freezing rain along the I-20 corridor and up to three inches of snow starting early Friday morning, potentially making it nearly impossible to travel and causing power outages.
From the southern plains of Texas and Oklahoma to the Carolina coastal plains, much of this winter precipitation is forecast to fall on places where people are less accustomed to winter weather, and it is likely to cause hazardous driving conditions, power outages and school closures.
Key things to know In the Southern United States, it doesn’t take huge amounts of snow or ice to disrupt everyday life.
Over a half foot of heavy snow is expected to create dangerous travel conditions along and south of Interstate 40 across Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Farther south, along and just north of Interstate 20 from Texas to Georgia, snow is likely to change to sleet and freezing rain as warmer air noses in above the freezing temperatures at the surface.
The region will continue to see cooler temperatures into next week, prolonging the likelihood of hazardous travel conditions.
By Thursday afternoon, snow had covered northern Texas and shifted into Oklahoma as the storm began to take shape in the Gulf of Mexico before an expected shift to the northeast. The heavier snow is likely to remain in northern Texas and into Oklahoma. The most likely snowfall totals in Texas will be between two and four inches, mainly along and north of I-20, in an area that averages less than two inches per season.
Anticipating the potential effects, Dallas schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday. Gov. Greg Abbott used a news conference on Wednesday to warn drivers: “Be careful. Be cautious.”
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