In The News

Winter storms strike two trucking corridors

A storm has dropped up to 11 inches of snow on the Colorado mountains and left some roads in Denver and Colorado Springs glazed with ice as winter storms spread across the west and southeast Monday.

The town of Black Hawk in the mountains west of Denver reported 11.4 inches of snow Monday morning.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for almost all of the Colorado mountains from the northern to southern border. Much of the rest of central and western Colorado were under a winter weather advisory.

U.S. 6 was closed in both directions over Loveland Pass. Trucks carrying hazardous materials were being allowed through the Eisenhower Tunnel under the pass once an hour. Such cargos are normally barred from the tunnel.

State highway officials warned drivers of heavy snow along Interstate 70, a heavily-traveled truck corridor, through the mountains.

Meanwhile, weather forecasters are urging motorists across most of Tennessee to stay off roads unless it's an absolute emergency.

A wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain on Monday is expected to create up to a half-inch of ice on roads in parts of Middle Tennessee, and three-quarters of an inch in parts of West Tennessee.

That would include the busy Interstate 40 corridor that carries truck traffic from coast-to-coast.

The storm has caused the cancellation of some flights, and shutdown businesses and colleges.

Justyn Jackson is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville. He says the storm is expected to move out of most of Tennessee by Monday evening.

However, forecasters expect what's on the ground to stick around most of the week, with temperatures not expected to get above freezing for most of the state until Saturday.

Also in the south, a State of Emergency has been issued for both Georgia and Mississippi ahead of a wintry mix that has the potential to coat areas of both states with several inches of ice.

On Sunday Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued a State of Emergency until Tuesday.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant issued a State of Emergency Sunday for portions of northern Mississippi through Monday.

Forecasters were already warning of the potential for snow, sleet and ice-coated roads across northern parts of Alabama and Georgia, just over a year after the ice storm that trapped motorists in cars and trucks for hours on metro Atlanta freeways. In Mississippi, counties near the Tennessee state line could see as much as three-quarters of an inch of ice from freezing rain.

A winter storm warning says sleet and freezing rain is likely Sunday evening through Monday evening from near Tunica northeast across far north Mississippi.

Forecasters say up to a half-inch of ice and an inch of sleet could accumulate, making travel dangerous if not impossible. They say people also could lose power as ice takes down branches, trees and power lines.

In Georgia, up to a quarter of an inch of ice could accumulate in more than a dozen mountainous northern counties that include cities such as Blairsville, Dalton and Dahlonega, the National Weather Service said in a winter storm warning.

In Alabama, ice could accumulate up to a tenth of an inch thick in some areas, with higher amounts possible near the Tennessee border, the weather service said in a winter weather advisory for northern parts of the state.

It wasn't clear yet from Sunday forecasts whether the snow and ice would stay north of the Atlanta metro area or coat parts of it with ice. A graphic released by the weather service early Sunday showed the potential for ice accumulating in areas north of the northern arc of Interstate 285, the perimeter freeway that encircles Atlanta. But they cautioned that the forecast would likely change.

Some sleet and at least a glaze of freezing rain was possible in Atlanta's heavily populated northern suburbs in Cherokee, Cobb, Gwinnett and north Fulton counties, the weather service said.

Though forecasters say it's difficult to predict how much ice or snow could be left by the storm, its timing was more certain: the wintry weather was expected to arrive early Monday morning and last into Tuesday, forecasters said.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency on Sunday brought in more personnel to the state operations center and will operate around the clock.

"We are now 24/7 until we perceive that the threat has diminished, and that may be at least Wednesday but maybe even later in the week," Jim Butterworth, director the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Butterworth, told The Associated Press said in an interview Sunday evening.

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