Many schools and businesses are closed, and tens of thousands remain without electricity throughout the Carolinas, Texas and Florida. In Arkansas, businesses closed up early as the storms advanced, by the end of the day some areas were reporting 15 inches of snow. The snow will be a one-two punch in North Carolina, where ice on the roads has paralyzed traffic all week. And weather-related power outages in the Atlanta area are sending local families packing to hotels just as Super Bowl tourists come into town. In Mississippi, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's declared a state of emergency, even though just two inches of sleet and snow are expected there, according to the National Weather Service.
Officials say they're concerned about slick roads.
In Alabama, residents have raided store shelves and hunkered down. Freezing rain, sleet and snow has interrupted hundreds of airline flights, snarled highway traffic and cut power to thousands of homes across North and Central Texas. Further north, Baltimore announced that it already had exhausted its annual snow removal budget as of today, half of the Maryland's school districts remained closed and commuters cursed snow-narrowed streets as traffic crawled. Snow and sleet are expected to hit Georgia starting Friday, with the heaviest snow falling about 50 miles south of Atlanta. But if the storm shifts, the Atlanta area could bear the brunt, said weather service meteorologist Robert Beasley.