© Janelle CoganA snow covered downtown is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Atlanta.
The South awoke Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities.
The snowfall sabotaged morning rush hour before it even began, sending cars crashing into each other on major thoroughfares. Officials urged people to stay off the roads if possible, and to bundle up if they ventured outside.
With temperature hovering around 10 degrees, store clerk Susan Brown got to work an hour late Wednesday in the north Alabama city of Decatur. Snow and ice blanketed grassy areas and roadsides, she said, and neighborhood roads were much whiter than main highways.
Comment: For videos see: Record-cold wave recedes, but now ice jams are causing flooding in US northeast