Mike Edmonston is a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson. He says less than a half inch of snow is expected in Central Mississippi, but two to four inches are expected further south.
“This system will be pretty fast,” Edmonston said. “It'll move across the area and the snow will be ending by late Tuesday afternoon.”
He says Mississippians should protect themselves from hypothermia by layering clothing and limiting their exposure to the cold.
“The coldest morning by far is Wednesday morning,” Edmonston said. “In addition to those temperatures, there'll still be a wind, five to ten mph, not necessarily a strong wind, but if you get any wind with those temperatures, the wind chills will be down in the single digits for sure across much of the area.”
Eric Bullard is with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). He says this storm is unusual.
“I would say that is definitely rare,” he said. “We don't see snowfall all the way down to the coast very often. I'm not sure when the last time it was, but obviously in south Mississippi, we do not see snow every year.”
Bullard says MEMA has been in contact with emergency management officials in all 82 Mississippi counties.
“A lot of them have opened up warming shelters,” he said. “If people are cold and they need some place to go, there is a list of warming shelters on our website.”
Travel Precautions
Snow can create hazardous travel conditions. Bullard says if you can, stay off the roads.
“Roads could be very dangerous to travel on,” he said. “So don't go out if you don't have to. Stay at home.”
Bullard says if you do have to travel, be prepared with a car kit.
“Just in case your car was to break down, make sure you have your phone, make sure you have a phone charger so you can call for help if you break down,” he said. “Have an extra blanket with you so you can stay warm until that help arrives. You could put some jumper cables in there as well, a windshield scraper and a first aid kit too.”
Bullard says residents should also prepare for possible power outages.
In homes, pipes can freeze when exposed to temperatures at or below freezing. In a tweet, MEMA says to avoid problems, let faucets drip slightly until temperatures warm up.
School Cancellations and Remote Classes
The following school districts have cancelled classes for Tuesday or moved to remote learning.
Madison County schools
The Petal School District
Jackson Public Schools and offices
The Hinds County School District
You can check out a full list of closed school districts here.
According to a webpost, Mississippi College will shift to remote operations on Tuesday, January 21. (This includes the Clinton campus and MC Law.) Residence halls and campus dining in The Caf will remain open on the Clinton campus.
According to its website, Mississippi State University (MSU) said “the MSU-Meridian campus will shift to remote operations all day on Tuesday, January 21. MSU’s Gulf Coast engineering programs, housed at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, should be aware that all MGCCC locations will be closed on Tuesday, Jan. 21 and Wednesday, Jan. 22. Mississippi State University (Starkville campus and the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville) will open under normal operations on Tuesday, Jan. 21.”
In a media advisory, Jackson State University announced it would “shift all classes and normal campus operations to remote work and virtual instruction Tuesday, January 21.”
Health Department Closures
The Mississippi Department of Health has also announced the closure of the following health departments due to the winter weather:
- Coastal and South Mississippi
o Adams, Amite, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marion, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Stone, Walthall, Wayne and Wilkinson counties will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
o Claiborne, Copiah, Simpson, Warren, Hinds, Rankin, Scott, Newton, Lauderdale, Smith, Jasper, and Clarke will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
o Madison and Attala will be closed Tuesday but are scheduled to open Wednesday.
o Leake, Neshoba, and Kemper are scheduled to open Tuesday as of now. We will continue to monitor those counties for closure on Wednesday if needed.
For more information, visithtts://msdh.ms.gov/closures
Other Closures
The city of Jackson will close all offices Tuesday, January 21.
The Jackson transportation service, JTRAN, will be closed Tuesday, January 21.
