The Nation : Cold Hits Deep South; Florida Gets Snow

Bitter cold swept into the Deep South, dropping snow on Dixie and plunging temperatures below freezing as far south as Florida. The National Weather Service said the cold wave stretched from northern Minnesota and New England to central Texas and the Florida Panhandle. Snow fell in northern Florida and a quarter-inch was reported at Demopolis, Ala. Freeze warnings were posted over northern and east-central Florida, and advisories were posted across Georgia for record-breaking cold and below-zero wind chills. The weather service said low temperature records would be broken or tied over much of Arkansas also. In Tennessee, nearly 2 feet of snow fell in the Great Smoky Mountains, closing the heavily traveled Highway 441. In Memphis, the temperature fell to 17 degrees, breaking a record that had stood for a century.