Storm Has Louisiana, Texas on Ice, Puts Chill on Travel

A dangerous winter storm system iced its way south across Texas and Louisiana on Friday, snarling traffic, closing schools and making travel treacherous.

“Somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature this is supposed to be the Deep South,” Louisiana State Police Sgt. Wayne Winkler said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety warned motorists to stay at home and said driving conditions were “extremely hazardous” in most of the state, with only the extreme western and southern portions spared.

Schools, businesses and government offices were closed in most of the state’s major cities, officials said.

That in turn was making traffic lighter than usual and cutting the number of accidents from Thursday, when highways from Dallas southwest to San Antonio became virtual bumper-car rinks.

Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster urged non-emergency state workers in northern, central and southwestern Louisiana to stay home. Schools did not open in 22 of the state’s 64 parishes.

State Police spokesmen in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria reported numerous fender-benders but no deaths or serious accidents related to the weather.

Heavy snow fell from Oklahoma to West Virginia.

In Pennsylvania, some of the 10,000-plus people who watched Friday as Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter considered reviving the tradition of ending Groundhog Day with a dinner of groundhog stew.

Many Pennsylvania communities are approaching snow accumulation records this year, and most of the spectators gathered in zero-degree weather greeted Phil’s prediction with boos and hisses.

Scores of airline flights were canceled or delayed, and Delta Air Lines said it was shutting its operations Friday at its Atlanta hub, one of the world’s busiest airports.