Some of the South's busiest metropolitan areas were gridlocked Tuesday after a few inches of snow caused traffic jams and multiple auto accidents.
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina all declared a state of emergency, and the storm is responsible for 13 deaths, according to USA Today.
See also: 10 Icy Photos From the Rare Snowstorm Paralyzing Southern States
In Georgia alone, more than 1,200 auto accidents have been reported, according to CNN. The accidents include more than 130 injuries and two reported deaths.
In Atlanta, thousands of students were forced to spend the night at schools on Tuesday evening, and some 45-minute commutes took drivers an astonishing 24 hours, according to Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel in Georgia's capital city.
It's been a chaotic 48 hours for the region. So how does a few inches of snow create so much trouble?
It appears the storm left little time for preparation. Much like the polar vortex that rocked the midwest and northeast regions earlier this month, Tuesday's snowstorm in the South started with a cluster of frigid air that pushed down from Canada on Monday night, Roth said.
At the same time, a low pressure area was forming in the Gulf of Mexico, creating a "swath of moisture" that came north on top of the arctic air. "Arctic air and moisture in the South don't meet very well," Roth explained. The result was a snowstorm that left between 2 and 3.5 inches of fresh snow across cities like Atlanta.
In Atlanta, the problem was that meteorologists weren't able to predict the storm's magnitude until late Monday night and into early Tuesday morning. That frigid air pocket was expected to travel further south, which means the 2 to 4 inches of snow was anticipated — but just not so far north.
This late change in the weather meant most people went to school and work Tuesday morning without knowing that multiple inches of snow were coming. "Most people thought they could get to work and put in a half day or maybe even a full day before it hit," Roth said.
When the snow did start to fall between 9 a.m. and noon, local time, on Tuesday, everybody left their offices and schools at the same time, according to Roth. The result: "It turned into an absolute parking lot."
These southern cities aren't out of the woods just yet. Sunshine on Wednesday helped melt some of the snow, but temperatures are expected to drop below freezing again Wednesday night. Atlanta is anticipating temperatures in the teens (Fahrenheit), as is Raleigh N.C., and Birmingham, Ala. That means the melted snow from Wednesday may form patches of black ice overnight, Roth said.
These types of storms are not unheard of in the South, but they are relatively uncommon. Atlanta, for example, did not have any snow over the last two years, but had a similar storm in 2011, Roth added.
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