Snowstorm disrupts travel in southern US

COLUMBIA

Travel misery continued on Sunday as a powerful snowstorm blasted southern U.S. states, bringing subzero temperatures to regions not accustomed to the deadly winter conditions.

The latest bout of extreme weather came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities struggling to dig out from snow and ice.

Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighboring states on Jan. 31, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.

All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.

North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Jan. 31, the highway patrol said.

Faust, North Carolina recorded 14.5 inches (37 cm) of snow, while West Critz, Virginia got 12.5 inches. Harrisburg, Tennessee received more than nine inches of accumulation.

In the North Carolina town of Cape Carteret, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, prompting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was "Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening especially if you become stranded."

The weekend storm forced more than 1,800 flight cancelations on Jan. 31 and yesterday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, data from the tracker FlightAware showed.

More than 600 flights were canceled at Atlanta's international airport, the world's busiest. About 50 flights in and out of Atlanta were canceled in the early hours of yesterday.

Davis, West Virginia recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states on Jan. 31, a frigid minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 degrees Celsius).