Persistent cold puts millions of people in the South in harsh conditions

Bitter cold will again grip large parts of the South this weekend, creating dangerous conditions for millions of people in a region unaccustomed to subzero temperatures.

Saturday morning it was 5 degrees in Louisville, Ky., 9 degrees in Nashville, 20 degrees in Little Rock, Ark., and 21 degrees in Atlanta. Several states were issued wind chill warnings and other freezing warnings as frigid temperatures were expected to continue into Sunday.

The extreme cold, which followed days of subzero temperatures earlier this week, was not limited to the South, with temperatures in the single digits from the Northern Plains to New England.

But for states that typically don't experience extended periods of ice and bitter chills, the past week has been particularly tough. In Tennessee, where severe winter weather began last Sunday and the cold snap lasted for days, health authorities have confirmed at least 19 weather-related deaths. And problems at water utilities led authorities to advise thousands of residents to boil their water before drinking it. Water problems also affected many parts of Arkansas, where the National Guard helped communities deliver drinking water.

In the Nashville area, heavy snow that fell earlier this week — as much as eight inches — had turned to thick sheets of ice on many streets and sidewalks by Friday. Schools were closed all week and residents were encouraged to stay off the roads.

On Saturday morning, Beverly Burton, 64, walked several blocks to the grocery store to get food, leaving the slick sidewalks and walking down the street with a cart. She was dressed in a long light brown coat, a red hat, gloves and a checked scarf.

“I'm ready for it to be over,” Mrs. Burton said. Speaking of winter storms, she added, “we get them, but we don't get them like this.”

More than 700 residents sheltered in Nashville's two homeless shelters, along with about 300 to 375 others in the city's overflow shelter, which opens in freezing temperatures.

One shelter, Room in the Inn, said some religious organizations that normally transported people to the shelter had to cancel because of icy roads.

“It's the snow and ice that's keeping us out of the South,” said Rachel Hester, director of Room in the Inn. “We become paralyzed. We don't have the infrastructure.”

Tony Stokes, 58, has been at one of the shelters all week. Last Sunday, he said, he initially tried to spend the night under an overpass, but woke up shivering and surrounded by snowflakes. “I was just laying there, and it got a little too cold for me,” said Mr. Stokes, who has been unable to afford housing since moving from Georgia a year ago. “You think you can hold on.”

Metro Nashville employees conducted welfare checks by phone instead of in person due to road conditions, according to city social services officials.

Sam Siple, an official with the Nashville Rescue Mission, a nonprofit shelter, said demand for services is particularly high.

Icy roads have led to fewer volunteers, and staff members are overloaded with more people to prepare for. Some workers had to stay overnight, he said. “It's been an intense week,” Mr Siple said.

The frigid weather comes just months after much of the South experienced a brutal summer of relentless heat and humidity, and weeks after scientists concluded that 2023 was the planet's hottest year on record. As the world warms, cold spells may still occur occasionally, although in many places they are becoming less frequent and less severe. And even though much of the United States is currently experiencing frigid than normal conditions, the Earth as a whole has been warmer than average this month due to unusually high temperatures in other parts of the world.

On Saturday, the National Weather Service warned of a weekend filled with Arctic air that will “dominate the eastern two-thirds of the country.”

Across the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern regions — particularly parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania — winter storm warnings were in effect Saturday morning, with heavy snow and slippery conditions expected.

Farther south, freezing temperatures were expected to spread to much of the Gulf Coast region, with the exception of southern Texas and the southern half of the Florida peninsula. The cold air was also expected to continue bringing more lake-effect snow to the Great Lakes region on Saturday.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, where a wind chill is in effect until Sunday morning, Erin Read, the executive director of the Knoxville-Knox County Office of Housing Stability, was bracing for another weekend of dangerously cold air.

Warming centers in Knoxville have sheltered more than 270 people so far, Ms. Read said, adding that the city got two years' worth of snow in one week.

When the warming centers first opened last week, they exceeded their capacity of 125 people on the second day, Ms Read said. There are now four centers open, but these are still above capacity. But they made room.

“The silver lining is that we have been able to accommodate everyone who wants to be inside,” Ms Read said. “No one has been turned away.”

Raymond Zhong reporting contributed.