ATLANTA (CBS): — Winter weather made travel treacherous across the South, shutting down interstates in Louisiana, causing highway crashes in Kentucky and closing airport runways in Texas as snow turned the red clay white and prompted schools to close across the region. Snow was falling Tuesday afternoon in a wide band that stretched from southeast Texas all the way to western Massachusetts.
Snow began falling during the pre-dawn hours Tuesday in Louisiana, where highways were closed in and around Shreveport as the winter weather system took aim at other states, forecasters said.
With the weather system moving east and plunging temperatures expected right behind it, winter storm warnings were issued for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Dangerous wind chills prompted school systems to close Tuesday across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. Some colleges also canceled classes, including Wichita State University in Kansas, where wind chill values were expected to drop as low as minus-13 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
CBS affiliate WGCL-TV reports several school districts across Georgia have canceled after-school programs and extracurricular activity in anticipation of inclement weather. Fulton County Schools, Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb County announced cancellations Tuesday.