Arctic Blast Causes Record Cold and Hundreds of Crashes on Virginia and North Carolina Roads

NORFOLK, Va.—Treacherous road conditions gripped Virginia and North Carolina on Thursday, as unusually heavy snowfall resulted in hundreds of accidents, including a significant pile-up on an interstate involving over 50 vehicles. A polar vortex simultaneously caused temperatures to plummet from the Northern Great Plains down to Louisiana.

On Wednesday afternoon, traffic on Interstate 40 in Orange County, North Carolina, was halted due to two separate collisions resulting in a rear-end impact involving a tractor trailer and a passenger car, leading to a fatality, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Overall, 53 vehicles were caught up in 12 accidents in the area. The tractor trailer driver faces charges of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and driving too fast for the conditions.

The highway patrol reported nearly 1,200 traffic collisions statewide on Wednesday, as stated by Sgt. Christopher Knox. Portions of Interstate 95 and I-85 near Raleigh, North Carolina, were also closed due to the crashes.

Virginia State Police indicated early Thursday that there had been more than 800 crashes across the state since heavy snow hit parts of the Mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday. At least 45 of these crashes resulted in injuries, although there were no fatalities.

In Suffolk, Virginia, emergency responders rescued two individuals from an SUV that had overturned into water on Wednesday afternoon, according to the city’s Department of Fire & Rescue. Photos shared on social media showed rescuers using a ladder to assist one person clinging to the roof as they crawled across to safety.

Norfolk, Virginia, experienced its eighth-highest single-day snowfall on record, with about 10.2 inches (approximately 26 centimeters) reported, according to Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.

While high snowfall totals aren’t unprecedented, they are considered “certainly rare,” Kleebauer noted.

“This is likely one of those storms that occurs only once every ten years,” he added.

In the city of roughly 230,000 situated on the Chesapeake Bay, children used boogie boards to sled down small hills, while adults employed leaf blowers to clear snow off their vehicles. Many roadways remained covered in slush or snow, prompting authorities to advise the public to refrain from travel to allow snowplows to do their job.

Mary Stokes, whose family operates a small environmental consulting business, mentioned that staff members couldn’t access the field for mold testing and other essential services to assist local homeowners and businesses in complying with environmental regulations.

“We’re definitely not going to require them to take a vacation day when they literally cannot come to work,” Stokes stated while clearing snow off her SUV. “However, it significantly impacts our earnings.”

Jared Brooks, a local surgeon, speculated that schools in Norfolk might not resume operations until at least Monday, as temperatures were not expected to rise above freezing on Thursday.

“People aren’t accustomed to driving in these kinds of weather conditions,” Brooks remarked while shoveling the sidewalk in front of his home. “They don’t adjust their speed accordingly and can become reckless. It’s best for everyone to stay home unless absolutely necessary.”

Schools across large regions of Virginia and North Carolina were closed or operating remotely, while thousands of electric customers were without power on Thursday morning. Approximately 1,800 flights were either canceled or delayed across the United States on Thursday, including around 250 flights in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, according to FlightAware.com.

Simultaneously, an arctic air mass was ushering in widespread, record-setting cold to the central United States, with forecasters predicting that some areas in the Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley could experience their coldest temperatures on record for this time of the year, as reported by the Weather Prediction Center. In Detroit, teams were working to repair a significant water main break that left many residents without power and heat amidst subzero temperatures.

Cold temperatures shattered daily records at 45 weather stations across a wide area stretching from North Dakota to Louisiana on Thursday, according to Kleebauer. Parts of Texas also broke daily cold records previously set in 2021 when a deadly winter storm led to a catastrophic failure of the state’s power grid.

Grand Island, Nebraska, recorded a new record low of minus 24 Fahrenheit (minus 31 Celsius) on February 20, surpassing the previous low of minus 11 F (minus 24 C) established in 1938. Hastings also set a new record at minus 20 F (minus 29 C), breaking the earlier record of minus 12 F (minus 24 C) that dates back to 1918. In Missouri, record lows were observed in several cities, including Springfield at minus 12 F, breaking the previous record of 7 F (minus 14 C) from 1918, and Joplin at minus 9 F (minus 23 C), surpassing earlier lows recorded in 1963, 1978, and 2021.

The National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas, anticipated another day of dangerously cold temperatures for western Kansas, predicting wind chills below minus 20 F in certain areas on Thursday morning. Wichita schools have been closed due to the cold since Tuesday, while numerous Kansas schools opened late on Thursday.

However, Kleebauer indicated that a “significant change” is approaching, predicting that Thursday would be the “last truly cold day” across the nation, with temperatures expected to begin rising next week.

By Ben Finley, Makiya Seminera and Sarah Brumfield