Cold Sweeps South; Midwest Again Hit by Snow

An unseasonable, record-setting cold knifed through the South on Friday, and a freak wintry storm dumped snow over much of the Midwest for a second day.

The National Weather Service said snow kept falling in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin in the morning but tapered off in places as the storm moved from the Ohio Valley into the Great Lakes.

Temperatures were in the 30s and 40s in the Midwest, which was socked Thursday by what was generally the region’s earliest snowfall in as long as a century.

As much as 9 inches of snow fell Thursday in Indiana, 6 inches in southwestern Ohio, 6 in Wisconsin, 4 in Kentucky, nearly 4 in Illinois and nearly 3 in Michigan. Much of it melted as it hit the ground.

In Chicago, 16 trucks were dispatched Friday to spread salt over the city’s main streets.

Thousands of people lost power across the Midwest because snow-laden tree limbs cracked off onto icy utility lines, and some customers remained without electricity early Friday.

In the South, residents broke out their topcoats as cold air sent temperatures as low as the 20s Friday morning.

Freeze warnings were posted for Georgia, Alabama, parts of the Florida Panhandle, Mississippi, Tennessee, northern Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas.

In Jacksonville, Fla., it was a record 40 degrees at 7 a.m.

In Mississippi, the state capital, Jackson, hit 30 degrees, tying a record for the date set in 1919.

Snow flurries mixed with rain hit northern and central Mississippi overnight--the first October snow since record-keeping began.

In Arkansas, Little Rock suffered its earliest freeze since records were established in 1879.