Snow Falls From Great Lakes to Parts of Louisiana

Snow fell from the Great Lakes to the Southwest and the Deep South on Friday, giving many schoolchildren in Louisiana a rare treat--their first look at snow.

“It’s snowing like a bandit out here,” said Iray LeDoux, director of the Baton Rouge Metro Airport. Baton Rouge reported its first “significant” snowfall since 1973.

Snow and sleet closed schools, government offices and some highways in parts of Louisiana, but children played outside as flakes swirled to the ground. In Hammond, La., where a choral festival was interrupted by the weather, participants ran around squealing with delight, officials said.

Schools were closed at Hattiesburg, Miss., which received up to 2 inches of sleet and slush. Sleet extended across southwest and south-central Georgia, and ice covered bridges and overpasses.

Snow ranging from a dusting to heavy accumulations forced schools and highways to close in western Texas also. In Seminole, up to 10 inches of snow fell.

Michigan Highways Closed

Heavy snow fell on southern Michigan, causing traffic accidents that shut down parts of two interstate highways and caused at least one death, officials said.

Farther west, bitter cold and brisk northwest winds created dangerous wind chill factors and ground blizzard conditions in North Dakota, where a 26-year-old woman who had left her stranded car died of exposure.

Below-zero temperatures with winds reaching 20 to 30 m.p.h. produced wind chill factors of 60 to 75 degrees below zero over the Dakotas and northern Minnesota.

In Chicago, the temperature fell to 1 degree below zero Friday morning, and winds of 20 m.p.h. produced a wind chill factor of 41 below, weather officials said.

The temperature at Tower, Minn., dropped to 23 below overnight. Willinston, S.D., reported a low of 22 below.