Snowfall records were broken this week in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana when an unprecedented winter storm slammed the region, leading to closures, travel disruptions and several deaths, with more extreme weather yet to come.
A statue of Pete Fountain is covered in snow on Jan. 21, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Florida was hit with its heaviest snowfall in history Tuesday when a preliminary 8.8 inches was recorded in Milton, north of Pensacola, breaking the state's 130-year-old record for total snowfall (3 inches of snow fell in Pensacola in 1895).
Up to 9 inches of snow fell in parts of Louisiana, and New Orleans' 8 inches shattered the city’s previous highest snow total of 2.7 inches set in 1963.
Mobile, Alabama, reported 7.5 inches of snow—breaking the previous 3.6-inch record from 1973.
In Houston, 3 inches of snow fell on Tuesday to become the third snowiest day on record, according to Fox Weather, and marking the highest single-day snow total since Jan. 30, 1949.
The storm brought the first-ever blizzard warning to coastal parts of Louisiana and Texas, and governors across the South issued state of emergency declarations.
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Icicles hang down from a vehicle during an icy winter storm on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in Galveston, ... [+]
New Orleans, where 8 inches of snow fell this week, has had more snowfall this year than Salt Lake City, which has seen 6 inches this season.
- That's how many people have been confirmed dead amid the powerful winter storm in the south, including three by exposure to cold and five in a car crash caused by icy roads in South Texas, according to The New York Times.
Thousands of flights have been canceled in the southeast region this week, according to FlightAware. The most impacted airports were George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (795 cancelations), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (349) and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (231).
A person walks on snow after snowfall in Tallahassee, Florida.
Up to 3 more inches of snow could fall in southern Georgia before 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, the National Weather Service warns, in addition to another inch of snow in northern Florida. Winter storm warnings are still in effect in northern Florida, southern Georgia and southern South Carolina. Parts of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are still under extreme cold warnings, and parts of Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana are under a freeze warning. Most of Georgia is impacted by a "special weather statement" warning of black ice conditions bringing slick, icy roads.
This week’s historic winter storm first hit Texas, bringing rare snow and sleet around Austin and San Antonio, before strengthening nearer to the Gulf of Mexico, bringing snow to Houston and triggering the first-ever Blizzard Warning for the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and southeastern Texas. New Orleans was hit next before the storm continued moving east to impact Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. The storm was caused by a polar vortex, a whirling mass of Arctic air usually kept in check by the polar jet stream that can break free when the jet stream weakens. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have warned that accelerated arctic warming, also called arctic amplification, is a major contributor to severe winter weather that is increasing in frequency from the months of October to February. Extreme cold is much more likely to kill people than exposure to extreme heat, and winter month death rates have been trending 8% to 12% higher than non-winter months in the U.S. for the last several years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.