US South targeted by rare winter storm, deep freeze blankets much of country

By Georgina McCartney and Brendan O'Brien

HOUSTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow, ice and wind gusts to a region where flurries are unusual, while much of the United States remained in a deep freeze.

As the storm moved east, crews near Houston plowed highways, while downtown streets, covered in white, were virtually deserted during the morning rush.

Abigail Albrecht, a math teacher at Cypress Woods High School in Harris County near Houston, said officials announced on Sunday that classes were canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

"In the six years I have worked at this school in Texas, they have never canceled school that far in advance due to weather, especially snow," she said.

Snow was also falling in New Orleans, where as much as eight inches (20 cm) were expected to accumulate by the end of the day, threatening to tie a record set in 1895. The last time the city received any measurable snowfall was 2009, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm is expected to crawl through Mississippi, Georgia and Florida early this week. Up to five inches of snow were forecast for Mobile, Alabama, where such accumulations have not been seen in more than 60 years, according to the NWS.

A snowstorm warning was issued for the region for Tuesday through Wednesday, with a blizzard warning in effect for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana until Tuesday afternoon, the service said.

Temperatures were expected to dip on Tuesday into single digits Fahrenheit, well below freezing, across the region. Forecasters and local leaders urged residents to protect themselves from frostbite and to take steps to keep their water pipes from rupturing.

Across the South, the snow, combined with an inch of ice accumulation and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour (64 kph), could make road and air travel difficult for several days, while threatening to topple power lines and trees, forecasters said.

Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama, opened warming centers and closed government offices in anticipation of the storm. Numerous school districts canceled classes, according to local news.

Texas ports and pilots, who assist in guiding vessels, suspended some operations on Monday as frigid weather hit the state.

To the north, most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States were experiencing brutally cold temperatures as a cold front was expected to linger through at least Tuesday.

It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21 degrees Celsius) in Chicago, 5 F in Cleveland and 11 F in New York City, the NWS said. Those morning readings were balmy compared to the -39 F (-39 C) recorded near Grand Lake, Colorado, the coldest spot in the U.S. on Tuesday morning.

(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Hannah Lang; Editing by Frank McGurty and Rod Nickel)

((brendan.obrien@thomsonreuters.com;))