Freezing Weather Warning for 10 States as Cold Front Hits Deep South

Freeze warnings are in place for parts of 10 states as a high-pressure system bringing lake-effect snow to the Great Lakes and New England is set to push sub-zero temperatures onto the Deep South.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued alerts for Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, warning of a frost that could kill crops and damage outdoor plumbing.

In a forecast on Monday, the NWS said that a high-pressure front stretching from the northern Plains to the Gulf of Mexico will facilitate snowfall in the north, which will be further enhanced by a low-pressure system descending from Canada.

Lake-effect snow is a phenomenon in which cold air picks up moisture from relatively warm bodies of water to produce precipitation. In the Great Lakes region, it is usually produced by a Clipper system moving cold air down from Canada.

The region has already seen several bouts of lake-effect snow this winter.

The high-pressure system will also push cold air underneath and to the east of its front, settling over the Deep South on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to dip into the 20 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit in the region.

The NWS said on Tuesday: "This cold snap is forecast to be short-lived as temperatures warm to near average by Thursday across the South."

In northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma into northwestern Louisiana and southwestern Arkansas, temperatures are expected to plunge as low as 27 degrees in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

In western Arkansas, the lows are expected at 28 degrees, though eastern Arkansas will reach as low as 25 degrees.

These lows are set to continue into northern Mississippi, western Tennessee as well as the Missouri Bootheel. Eastern Mississippi will reach lows of 27 degrees, while southern portions of the state—along with southeastern Louisiana—will bottom out at 31 degrees.

Parts of southern Tennessee, as well as northern and central Alabama, will see mercury dip to 24 degrees, while southern Alabama is expected to reach 30 degrees.

Moving into Georgia, temperatures will creep to as low as the mid-20s, while central South Carolina will see lows of 30 degrees. Winds of 30 miles an hour near lakes in the latter could create hazardous conditions for small craft.

From northern South Carolina into southern North Carolina, sub-freezing temperatures of 29 degrees will remain into Tuesday morning.

Earlier in January, a blast of cold air from the Arctic descended over the continental U.S., bringing snow to northern states and freezing wind chills to the Deep South.

A cold snap in December 2022 saw a winter freeze as far south as Texas in December, which impacted the state's energy infrastructure.