Key points
- In Georgia, a person was reported to have died of hypothermia
- National Weather Service records temperatures fell to 16 degrees Fahrenheit
- Bitterly cold airmass to cover much of the South and Eastern US
- The National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana, issued its first-ever blizzard warning
ISLAMABAD: Several states declared emergencies as temperatures were expected to be 20 to 30 degrees below the January average. Weather likely played a part in at least four deaths.
According to NBC News, in Georgia, a person was reported to have died of hypothermia amid the winter storm that has brought severe cold and snow to different parts of the South, the state’s emergency management director said.
A rare winter storm also barreled into the US state of Texas early Tuesday, pushing the region into a deep freeze, with Houston receiving 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) of snow and up to 6 inches (15.24 cm) forecast for surrounding areas.
“Essential services, first responders, the health department, our mental service center (and) warming centers will be open 24 hours into sometime Thursday,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire in an interview with Houston Public Media.
Texas weather
Harris County, the largest populated county in Texas, and includes Houston, started 23 warming centers for those in need of a safe place to stay for the duration of the severely cold conditions.
“We did see around 1,100 people across the 23 warming centers last night,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told Houston Public Media.
According to records from the National Weather Service, temperatures felt as low as 16 degrees in middle Georgia overnight with the wind chill.
It felt like minus 11 degrees around 4 a.m. in the Atlanta area.
Winter storm
Snow from today’s winter storm in New Orleans was expected to decline this evening, and what is already on the ground is expected to continue to make driving very difficult, a city official said.
“We’re concerned about the next two days,” said Collin M. Arnold, director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Wind chill values for the city are supposed to be as low as 12 degrees in the coming days, the National Weather Service said.

Around 6 inches of snow has fallen, Arnold said at a news briefing.
“The continued temperatures being below freezing over the next day and a half, the snow that we have is not really going to go anywhere — and, in fact, probably start to become, you know, ice,” Arnold said. “And so that could be very difficult for our roadways.”
Bitterly cold airmass
A “bitterly cold airmass” will cover much of the South and Eastern United States for most of the next seven days, the National Weather Service warned.
Four deaths are supposed to have been caused by the extremely cold weather. According to authorities, two people died in Austin of suspected hypothermia; one person in Georgia; and one person in Milwaukee.
New Orleans experienced a reported 9.5 inches of snow, East Baton Rouge Parish got 9 inches, and Baytown, Texas, east of Houston, got 5 inches of snow.
Omaha, Nebraska, saw a wind chill of -29 degrees today. The recorded high temperature in New York City was 19 degrees. And the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana, issued its first-ever blizzard warning.