(AP) Another round of snowy and icy weather led to school closings, dangerous driving conditions and power outages Thursday across the South and even delayed a Georgia execution.
A wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain fell across the Gulf Coast states, the Carolinas and the D.C. area. This system may also bring severe thunderstorms to parts of Georgia and Florida, forecasters said. Already parts of northern Alabama have seen more than 10 inches of heavy, wet snow, causing tree damage and power outages.
Schools closed and states of emergencies were declared ahead of the storm.
Snow fell on the Deep South on Wednesday as another storm brought nasty weather to the region, walloping places that were hit hard just last week.
Relief — in the form of higher temperatures — was expected Thursday.
Here’s a look at how winter weather has affected some areas:
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DELAYED EXECUTION
Georgia delayed the execution of its only female death row inmate because of the approaching winter weather. Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband. Prosecutors said she plotted with her boyfriend in the killing.
The execution has been rescheduled for Monday.
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PIPE BURST
A pipe that burst during Michigan’s deep freeze is being blamed for flooding the lower levels of a mostly vacant 38-story building in downtown Detroit with 2 million gallons of water. The pipe burst earlier this week leaving icicles hanging from portions of the interior of the building. Cleanup crews continued work Wednesday at the site.
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SNOW FALLS ON ALABAMA
Forecasters say nearly a foot of snow has fallen in parts of Alabama, combining with slush and ice to make for treacherous travel.
By early Thursday, a volunteer who works with the National Weather Service measured 11 inches of snow in the Guntersville area. Authorities said 8.5 inches of snow fell in the Athens area, with similar amounts reported in other towns and cities across northern Alabama.
A wide area of north Alabama was essentially shut down because of dangerous travel conditions caused by the snow.
The snow left slushy ice atop multiple roads north of Birmingham to the Tennessee line.
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NO REFUGE FROM WINTER
With a winter approaching Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trent Maner was beginning to question whether North Carolina was an adequate sanctuary from the cold and ice.
“It’s frustrating,” he said Wednesday. “You live in North Carolina so that you don’t have to deal with it very often. Seems like last year and this year, it’s getting us.”
Maner was among a handful of people at a local Lowe’s Home Improvement Store in search of a snow shovel or ice melt.
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BETTER PREPARED
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said he was very confident in the state’s preparations.
Following a January 2014 ice storm that crippled metro Atlanta, Deal convened a task force to make recommendations of how to better prepare. He said Wednesday that state agencies have ably handled three weather situations in the last 10 days.
“I believe the lesson we are learning even of this morning as we noted the smaller volume of traffic on the interstates is that the public is willing to be a participating partner,” he said.
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ARE YOU DELIVERING?
The manager of a sandwich shop in Shreveport, Louisiana, says it’s been delivering more food this week because of the bad weather.
“The first question asked when you answer the phone is ‘Are you delivering?'” according to Alli Walsh, who manages a Jimmy John’s in Shreveport.
Walsh said she has up to six delivery workers who are running multiple orders at a time. Up to 4 inches of snow fell in northern Louisiana on Wednesday.
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Associated Press writers Bill Fuller in New Orleans; Mitch Weiss in Greenville, South Carolina; Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kathleen Foody and Kate Brumback in Atlanta; and Jay Reeves in Attalla, Alabama, contributed to this report.
