Atlanta • A winter storm stalking the South disrupted a new governor's inaugural ceremonies in North Carolina, triggered hundreds of fender benders in Tennessee and led shoppers to empty out shelves of bread and milk. Road conditions are also quickly deteriorating in Alabama and Georgia.
Sleet and snow is falling in outlying suburbs northwest of Atlanta while rain and freezing rain brought slush to city streets.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted police as saying authorities were handling some vehicle crashes on Interstate 75 northwest of the city on Friday evening. No injuries were reported.
Police told the newspaper they were warning motorists that bridges and overpasses were in danger of freezing overnight as temperatures are expected to plunge. Authorities urged people to avoid unnecessary travel.
The winter mess was blamed for hundreds of fender benders and other non-injury crashes, some involving school buses, on Nashville roads coated by 1 to 2 inches of snow early Friday. Nashville's city school district ordered classes to start on schedule but had to hastily call early dismissals as police reports of non-injury crashes multiplied. All students were later transported safely home.
"We apologize," Nashville Schools Chief Operating Officer Chris Henson said. "We realize that it's been very frustrating for everyone. And the timing was very unfortunate, as far as the weather change."
In North Carolina, the storm threat sent incoming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his invitees scrambling to the Executive Mansion ballroom for an abridged swearing-in ceremony Friday. A larger outdoor ceremony Saturday organized for thousands had to be scrapped.
"Consider yourselves the chosen few," Cooper jokingly told family, friends and well-wishers after his 20-minute oath-taking.
Lauren Rathbone, manager of a Public Hardware store in Durham, North Carolina, estimated the store sold nearly 7 tons of ice melt in 50- and 10-pound bags, along with hundreds of sleds and shovels. Describing the mood of customers, she said: "Up until about 10 o'clock: Happy, excited, and 'at least I got my stuff.' After 10 o'clock: 'Why the hell ain't you got anything?'"
In Atlanta, where memories of a catastrophic snow and ice storm in 2014 are still fresh, city leaders pleaded with motorists not to venture out onto slick highways. The earlier storm brought traffic to a standstill on metro Atlanta freeways, and office workers were forced to spend the night in their cars in gridlock. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed organized early dismissals Friday to avoid a repeat of the 2014 traffic jam.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport, Delta Air Lines on Friday announced that 350 flights had been canceled ahead of the storm. "We never close," airport spokesman Reese McCranie said. "This is something we train for throughout the entire year."
A mix of rain and sleet was expected across parts of Georgia on Friday. Two to 4 inches of snow could cover much of the state by Saturday morning, forecasters said. Snow-removal trucks and dozens of road workers from south Georgia were moved north to help clear roads.
Freezing rain was expected in Alabama, the National Weather Service said.
Shoppers were out in force seeking staples like milk, bread and eggs.
By the time Justin Fetty, 31, of Hampton, Virginia, made it to a Food Lion, every brand of bread that he was familiar with was gone. "You had to buy like weird stuff," he said, at a loss describe exactly what kind of bread he purchased. "But my daughter needs her PB&Js. You can't make them with tortillas."
Nancy Nusbaum, 54, of Norfolk, Virginia, stocked up at the grocery store and then a wine store, getting two cases of wine for all the friends she expected to help her weather it out.
"Right now, it's just me," she said with a laugh, noting her husband was in Florida. "But I'm stocking up for all my friends who are going to come and check on me."
Her dog Jenny, a lab mix, also had just died and Nusbaum had just picked up her ashes, now in a bag on the car's backseat. "I gotta get through this somehow," Nusbaum added.
The storm was blamed for one death Thursday in Kentucky when a motorist drove off a curve on a snow-slickened road.
Winter weather was also slamming parts of the West, prompting some dangerous conditions but also drawing skiers to the slopes. In Colorado, heavy snow and strong winds raised the danger of avalanches. Snow in Boise, Idaho, reached 15 inches Thursday, breaking the previous snow-depth record of 13 inches from mid-1980s.
Drivers walk up a road after being involved in an accident due to snow and ice Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. Winter weather closed schools and made driving conditions hazardous. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Beckett Thomas and Amaya Kindle sled down a hill at The Greens of North Hills golf course in Sherwood, Ark., on Friday Jan. 6, 2017, after a light snow fell across central Arkansas overnight closing many schools, buisnesses and roads. (Benjamin Krain/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
Shelves of bottles of water sit mostly empty at a supermarket in Atlanta, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
James Works, with Adams Towing, prepares to tow away a car that slid off of an icy Interstate 630 on-ramp and struck a light pole Friday morning, Jam. 6, 2017, near Pine and Cedar Streets in Little Rock, Ark. (Stephen B. Thornton/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
Brian Smith, left, speaks to an Arkansas State Trooper, as tow driver James Works, top, finishes loading Smith's car onto a truck after Smith slid off of an icy Interstate 630 on-ramp and struck a light pole, Friday morning, Jan. 6, 2017, near Pine and Cedar Streets in Little Rock, Ark. (Stephen B. Thornton/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
Megan McSween and her 6-year-old son, Connor, sled down a hill off of Riverside Dr. during a snow day in Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. The family, which includes McSween's husband, Brian, and 2-year-old son, Micah, ventured over to the hill after sledding at Memphis Riverfront. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
Fresh footprints in the snow mark a path to a footbridge over a creek along Chenal Parkway near Loyala Drive in Little Rock, Ark., Friday morning, Jan. 6, 2017. (Stephen B. Thornton/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
Little Rock police work the scene of an accident where a car struck the Oyster Bar restaurant along an icy W. Markham Street Friday morning, Jan. 6, 2017 in Little Rock.. (Stephen B. Thornton/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
A tour bus and a car sit in a ditch before being towed off a slick street Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. Winter weather closed schools and made driving conditions hazardous in Nashville and other parts of the state. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Pedestrians walk in a brief snow flurry as icicles form on street signs in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Tobie Shramek spreads salt on an icy sidewalk in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Joe Williams, right, with Taylor's Do It Center in Norfolk, Va.,, helps Leslie Councill, of Councill Realty and Management, load the stores three bag limit of rock salt into her truck, Friday afternoon Jan. 6, 2017. The store has sold more than 800 bags of rock salt and are currently out of snow shovels but are expecting over one hundred snow shovels to be delivered to the store later in the day. (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
Delta passengers wait in line in hopes of catching their flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as monitors display flight information, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Atlanta. Delta canceled about 350 flights due to inclement weather. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South.(Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
A man monitors boards at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Atlanta. Delta canceled about 350 flights due to inclement weather. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South.(Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2015, file photo, deer forage after a night of fresh snowfall, in Boulder, Colo. Deer have it rough during the winter, when much of their food is covered by snow and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says people can make it worse by disturbing the animals, forcing them to use energy they must conserve until spring. Feeding deer is also a bad idea, since the animal's digestion adapts to the winter season and they can suffer from the wrong type of food. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file)
Luis Morales laughs as Salvador Damazo crashes into him, while pushing him, down a hill at the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex in Jackson, Tenn., on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (C.B. Schmelter/The Jackson Sun via AP)
A car is loaded onto a flatbed wrecker after it crashed at the corner of Lanese Dockery Drive and Union University Drive in Jackson, Tenn., on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. Police on scene said the car slid on the icy road. (C.B. Schmelter/The Jackson Sun via AP)
Nathan Williamson, left, Ashlynne Clifft, Amy Clifft, Alyssa Clifft and Christen Long make their way to the top of the hill at the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex in Jackson, Tenn., on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (C.B. Schmelter/The Jackson Sun via AP)
Tobie Shramek spreads salt on an icy sidewalk in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Josh Skaggs walks down JFK Blvd. in North Little Rock, Ark., Friday Jan. 6, 2017, on his way to the convenience store. Skaggs walked 6 blocks in 19 degree temperature in order to avoid driving on slick roads after a light snowfall in central Arkansas Friday morning (Benjamin Krain/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
Icicles form on street signs in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. (Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Travelers monitor the boards at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Friday, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Atlanta. Delta canceled about 350 flights due to inclement weather. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South.(Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
A traveler arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as it begins to rain, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Atlanta. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South.(Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Travelers arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as it begins to rain, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, in Atlanta. Delta canceled about 350 flights due to inclement weather. Shoppers emptied shelves of bread and milk, road workers began working 12-hour shifts, and states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas ahead of a winter storm stalking the South.(Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible