Huge Ice storm threatens Southeast; flights canceled
Pastor Dale Morgan
Huge Ice storm threatens Southeast; flights canceled*
POSTED: 0729 GMT (1529 HKT), February 1, 2007
Story Highlights
• Temperature dropping in Atlanta area; rain on radar
• Rain, sleet, freezing rain expected across Southeast
• Delta canceling about 200 flights to avoid passenger delays
• Airline is calling passengers to rebook flights
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A huge winter storm aimed its chilly sights at
north Georgia, poised to deliver an icy sheen Thursday to areas north of
Atlanta as cold air from the west collided with moisture from the Gulf
of Mexico.
By 9 p.m., temperatures across the metro Atlanta area had dropped below
freezing and were still falling. Light rain -- most of it not reaching
the ground -- was observed on radar moving eastward into far western
Georgia.
Delta Air Lines planned to cancel about 200 flights late Wednesday and
early Thursday as freezing rain and sleet were forecast for Georgia,
including parts of the Atlanta area, a Delta spokeswoman said.
The airline, whose main hub is at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport, was trying to ease delays for travelers, said
spokeswoman Betsy Talton. By canceling the flights late Wednesday, she
said, Delta reduces the number of Atlanta flights that will require deicing.
Delta was contacting customers on the canceled flights, Talton said, and
they were being rebooked.
But the winter weather isn't confined to the Southeast. The National
Weather Service issued snow advisories for the panhandle of Texas and
most of Oklahoma, except the far southeast corner of the state, with
accumulations of up to 3 inches expected overnight in Oklahoma City and
Tulsa.
Ice forecast across part of South
In the South, winter storm warnings continue for north Georgia, the
mountains of Tennessee and the western Carolinas.
Winter weather advisories are in effect for northern Alabama and central
Georgia, where ice accumulation is expected to be less than one-quarter
inch.
The weather service expected sleet to move into northern Georgia late
Wednesday night and turn to freezing rain in Atlanta with total
accumulations of one-quarter to one-half inch of ice by midmorning Thursday.
The freezing rain is expected to turn to rain by midafternoon.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain are expected to develop overnight with
snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches by Thursday morning in Charlotte,
North Carolina, the weather service said. The snow will turn to freezing
rain by midmorning, with ice accumulations of up to a half inch possible
by Thursday afternoon, it said.
Farther to the north, light freezing rain is expected in the Washington,
D.C. metro area on Thursday night and then turn to snow, with 1 to 2
inches of snow accumulation expected by Friday morning, the weather
service said.
Snow socked the Plains on its way east on Wednesday, at one point
causing a 30-vehicle traffic pileup in Kansas City, Kansas, that forced
the closure of a 12-block section of I-35 for 2½ hours, said Jim Weaver,
a spokesman for the Overland Park Police Department. No fatalities or
major injuries were reported.