Every morning of the past week or so, Corinne Knight has already gotten to work around 6:30 a.m., cooked about 200 meals and then loaded her car with boxes of food.

By late morning, she’s long crossed the state line into Mississippi and is pulling up to the Eddie L. Smith Multipurpose Building in Holly Springs, where meals are quickly unloaded and distributed — some to people staying inside the shelter, others to residents who haven’t been able to safely leave their homes.

“When they call, they tell us where they need us and when they want us there,” said Knight, the second-generation owner of Grecian Gourmet Kitchen. “We usually have a 24- to 48-hour turnaround, and we keep delivering until they tell us the need has ended or they want us to move to another location.”

“They,” in this case, is World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit founded by chef José Andrés that works with local restaurants and caterers to provide fresh meals to communities affected by natural disasters. Through World Central Kitchen, professional chefs have cooked for people after disasters in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and, now, in Holly Springs and Nashville. 

Groundhog Day on, Monday, Feb. 2, will be more of the same in Memphis — icy roadways, closed schools. But it will also finally be warmer, no matter which rodents see or do not see their shadows. 

With those warmer temperatures, Memphis may escape the kind of day it has repeated since snow and sleet coated the ground a week ago. 

“We should see pretty efficient melting as we get into Monday and Tuesday,” said Amber Schlessiger, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Memphis. 

Warmer air began returning in the afternoon on Sunday, Feb. 1, Schlessiger told The Daily Memphian. Temperatures will climb to 46 degrees on Monday and stay above freezing Tuesday, she said. 

This article includes information about city services, warming centers, parks and library closures, school closures and other weather information for Memphis and the Mid-South. It will be updated regularly. 

More information is available on the City of Memphis winter-weather update site.

Schools

Memphis-Shelby County Schools campuses will remain closed Wednesday, Feb. 4. This marks the eighth day of closures due to icy road conditions from the winter storm. Charter schools make their own weather closure announcements. MSCS has a stockpile of eight days available.

MSCS delays school-choice application window to Feb. 5.

The preliminary estimate of damage from last week’s winter storm is $4.7 million, according to dollar figures tallied by the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said Saturday, Jan. 31, with the estimate he is asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to amend the state’s request Wednesday for Federal Emergency Management Agency to include the amount in the state’s total request.

The total includes:

1. $2.5 million for Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
2. $1.7 million for the City of Memphis.
3. $448,520 for Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
4. $35,738 for the City of Millington.

“This winter storm included a mixture of sleet, snow and freezing rain, which resulted in damages to buildings and equipment, utilities and costs incurred for emergency protective measures,” Cohen wrote in his Friday letter to Lee.

Stores that saw crowds last week ahead of the weekend’s winter storm now face a different challenge once the weather cleared: restocking shelves amid delivery delays, staffing shortages and continued demand across the area.

In Whitehaven, the Cash Saver on Elvis Presley Boulevard has been busy in the days following the storm. Store manager Coletha Wallace said Friday, Jan. 30, that customer demand has stayed strong, with lines swelling during peak afternoon hours, and inventory is quickly cycling through the store.

“The vendors are keeping up,” Wallace said. “It’s the customers depleting it once it comes in. But other than that, we’re doing really well.”

Wallace said staffing was not an issue at the Whitehaven location, even during the height of the storm.

The Shelby County suburbs treated their roads ahead of the weekend’s winter precipitation, but frigid temperatures made some of those efforts ineffective.

The result was days and days of icy streets and sliding cars. The crusty topping on top of the snowy blanket not only made driving difficult, but also did little to melt away the frozen pavement, even when temperatures climbed significantly above freezing on Thursday.

“We’ve thrown an enormous amount of salt on the roads,” Bartlett Mayor David Parsons said. “The problem was that you can’t plow the ice on top because the blade just jumps off the ice.”

Intrepid fun-seekers enjoy thrills of ‘Mount Bartlett’

Roads in the region have been a royal mess since the storms descended on the Memphis metro area last weekend. Streets have remained packed, and in many instances, there is only one lane of ruts to travel on major streets. 

Somewhere under the hardened ice that is durable enough for children to build snowhouses and igloos is a solid waste backlog of four days and counting.

As those streets thawed Thursday, Jan. 29, the City of Memphis put out a statement on its website saying the situation is being watched closely with an eye toward resuming garbage pickup as soon as possible.

The outlook is also a matter of timing with arctic temperatures setting in again Friday.

“Crews must be able to safely navigate streets, alley and collection routes and disposal facilities must be operating safely before service can restart. The city is assessing conditions across Memphis each day, including neighborhood streets and shaded areas that are slower to clear and more likely to refreeze,” the city’s Thursday statement reads.

While black ice led to the closing of major interstate lanes leading into DeSoto County on Thursday, Jan. 29, local officials reported a more stable situation inside city limits with some businesses fully stocked and a warming center sitting empty.

The DeSoto landscape was a small sliver of the winter chaos that has gripped the Southeast since last weekend when an icy mixture descended on the region. The situation has pushed anxiety for everyone from first responders to businesses to drivers stuck among disabled vehicles on slick roads.

Cabin fever is beginning to set in for those unable to leave their residences for days.

Mississippi dispatchers are fielding desperate calls for medication or oxygen from people stuck in their homes. Troopers in Tennessee are fanning out for welfare checks on those who haven’t been heard from in days. And in at least one rural area, officials have resorted to relying on trucks typically used for battling wildfires to transport patients to hospitals.

It’s been a wild week on the slopes of Mount Bartlett.

The hills on both sides Bartlett Boulevard have been alive with hundreds and hundreds of fun-seekers, including this intrepid reporter and my much more courageous young son. We each sat atop the hill with a mix of fear and excitement wondering just how fast our chosen mode of transport was going to send us hurtling with no brakes down the icy drop off.

People of all ages were still there in the final hour or so before dark on Wednesday. Cars packed both sides of Bartlett Boulevard with the bravest souls racing down the slopes on either side of the road.

Bartlett spokesman and former Bartlett police officer Todd Halford dubbed the hill “Mount Bartlett” last year.

The best advice the experts have right now is to just stay inside.

But, if you absolutely have to be outside, make sure your shoes have a really good tread, and maybe tie a pillow around your rump if they don’t.

If you’re driving, stick to the main roads as much as possible. If someone else is driving for you, like the pizza delivery man, tip accordingly.

Because this ice that’s smothering Memphis isn’t going anywhere for the next few days, at least.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation announced all previously closed lanes of Interstate 22, or U.S. 78, are open from Red Banks (Exit 21) to the Tennessee state line.

Additionally, the section of Interstate 55 north of Como (Exit 257) is now open.

Situation in South grows more dire as ice, frigid temperatures, outages persist

Officials still advise drivers to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.

Mississippi officials sent National Guard troops, tow trucks and 135 snowplows to the area Wednesday to clear snow and ice from I-22 and I-55 where massive traffic jams began piling up a day earlier on the frozen and slippery roadways.
No injuries were reported, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said.

Icy streets remain a main obstacle for reopening schools in Memphis and Shelby County, according to public school district officials. And it’s unclear whether temperatures could warm up enough to melt the ice and drastically improve driving conditions this week, city and weather officials have said.

Wednesday, Jan. 28, will be the third day of school closures since a winter storm dumped a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain across the southeastern United States over the weekend. 

“Roadway conditions are a primary consideration in any reopening decision, particularly given the size and geographic spread of the district and our responsibility to ensure the safe transportation of students and staff,” Memphis-Shelby County Schools spokesperson Jermaine Johnson told The Daily Memphian.

“This includes main roads, secondary roads, and neighborhood streets that buses and families rely on.” 

Memphis’ mix of snow and sleet became immovable ice blocks on neighborhood streets when temperatures remained low after the weekend’s precipitation, City Public Works Director Scott Morgan told reporters during a briefing Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 27.

“We’re lucky to not have the freezing rain” that caused power outages in nearby parts of north Mississippi and Tennessee, Morgan said. “… But we did get the sleet. Sleet, from a roadways standpoint, is very similar to freezing rain.”

Across the country, Morgan said, icy roadways present more challenges than snowy ones. 

Now that temperatures are warming up, Memphis Light, Gas and Water recommends customers stop dripping their faucets as of Tuesday, Jan. 27. 

Pausing the drip will help maintain water-system pressure, according to MLGW. When temperatures drop below 20 degrees for more than four hours, MLGW says customers should resume dripping their faucets. 

Memphis can expect lows near 20 degrees Tuesday night. 

For now, MLGW suggests keeping cabinets open and the thermostat at a minimum of 55 degrees.

Germantown has two snowplows that should help in wintry weather, but they haven’t quite been able to scrape sleet-caked snow off roads this week.

Frozen precipitation blanketed Shelby County on Saturday and Sunday, making travel treacherous. Germantown bought two snowplows as part of the 2018-19 budget and deployed them for the first time in 2021.

This time the snowplows weren’t quite cutting it, so crews used front-end loaders, said Andy Sanders, assistant city administrator.

He described the precipitation as sheets of layered snow and ice, explaining that fell first followed by snow and then more sleet. The combination solidified into a predicament of frozen sheets on city streets.

City of Memphis Public Works crews were beginning to get to secondary streets Tuesday, Jan. 27, as temperatures are expected to go above freezing.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, the city had been below freezing for 87 consecutive hours. While temperatures are expected to rise above freezing for the next several days, they are predicted to stay below that line Friday and throughout the weekend. 

Memphis Public Works Director Scott Morgan told City Council members at a morning briefing his work crews would begin using salt and moving to clear those smaller thoroughfares after focusing exclusively on major routes. State road crews are responsible for the interstate system.

“Right now on the primary routes we still have crews out there plowing,” he said. “With it warming up, we want to make sure we start on secondary routes.”

Memphis City Council members won’t be at City Hall for their Tuesday, Jan. 27, meetings. But they will meet.

Council members are meeting online because of the ongoing cleanup and recovery from the winter storm that blew into town on Jan. 24, with below-freezing temperatures remaining in its wake.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Memphis Mayor Paul Young declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm that allows for meetings to be conducted online “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, city employees, City Council staff and members of the council,” according to a press release from the council office.

The council’s afternoon session begins online at 2:30 p.m. ahead of its usual 4 p.m. starting time. The earlier committee sessions are also shorter — starting at 10 a.m. online and beginning with an update on the city’s response to the storm and its aftermath.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools has postponed its board meeting set for Tuesday, Jan. 27, delaying a vote about whether interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond will be tapped for the permanent job. 

The board has yet to reschedule the meeting.

The winter-weather delay comes as the district also rescheduled its school-choice application window and closed schools for a second day. Unplowed roads remained icy Monday.

Board members last week announced they would soon determine permanent leadership for the district by voting to pursue a new superintendent search or appoint a superintendent. 

On Sunday afternoon, Memphis city officials warned that the Monday morning commute could be tough, especially on unplowed side streets. 

Memphis public works director Scott Morgan said city crews continued to make grinding progress on priority streets. He said the commute Monday would be slow and treacherous on side streets. 

The cold temperatures continued to impact Memphis on Sunday, though the city was spared the debilitating ice that wreaked havoc to the south and east. 

The cold and influx of people seeking shelter has led the Hospitality Hub to make its center, 590 Washington Ave., open for women only. The warming center at First Baptist Church, 200 E. Parkway North, is operating for men only. 

Frigid temperatures and treacherous roads have the majority of the Mid-South hunkered down wondering how long the effects of this weekend’s winter storm could stretch into the coming days.

While authorities were recommending that people stay home, public works crews across the area were trying to clear at least one lane on major thoroughfares, battling against wind chill on Sunday in the teens.

“The continuous winter precip is leaving Shelby County now, so basically the majority of the storm is wrapping up,” Erik Proseus, who runs Memphisweather.net, said midday Sunday.

He expects to potentially see some very light sleet or snow flurries off and on for the rest of Sunday.

Road conditions in Memphis deteriorated overnight and Memphians should stay off the roads, the city’s public works director said Sunday, Jan. 25. 

Scott Morgan, the city’s public works director, said some of his crews were struggling to get to work and start clearing the roads but he anticipated city crews would be able to make some progress as Sunday wore on. 

Memphis Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said the utility’s three services were working normally and the utility was responding to a handful of residential customer outages. 

Memphis emergency officials spoke as relatively mild conditions prevailed on the ground.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include new reporting on an unhoused person living in Midtown. 

Summer Rayn Martin has been living in what barely amounts to a chicken coop in John Corlew Park for more than a month now.

Saturday morning, as snow and sleet covered the tiny Midtown park behind the McDonald’s on Union Avenue, Martin tried everything she could to fend off the cold, including wearing just about every stitch of clothing she had.

One wall of her tiny enclosure was a ratty blanket pulled tight. Two other walls were wooden pallets she’d found, while the fourth was the chain-link fence that separates the park from McDonald’s.

President Donald Trump granted Tennessee’s request for an emergency declaration, the state of Tennessee said in a news release Saturday, Jan. 24.

The state submitted the request to the White House and Federal Emergency Management Agency ahead of the winter storm. The declaration will help the state receive federal assistance with the storm.

On Friday, Memphis Mayor Paul Young declared a state of emergency for the city. 

The state of emergency will last for seven days — and may be extended in seven-day increments. The emergency declaration allows the city to seek reimbursement for emergency expenses incurred during the storm scheduled to hit Memphis this weekend.

Memphis continued to wait for the winter storm’s full effects Saturday afternoon as leaders remained apprehensive about the arrival of freezing rain that is expected to last through the night. 

Memphis city officials reported relatively benign effects from the winter storm during an afternoon news conference as power outages remained almost minimal. 

City of Memphis Public Works Director Scott Morgan said the city had almost plowed every priority street twice. (It remained working on Lamar Avenue’s first plow run.) He said the coming freezing rain could pose further challenges for plowing and road navigability. 

Memphis Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said all three utilities — water, gas and electric — remained fully functional. The utility’s outage map showed 42 outages at 3 p.m. 

If you were planning to fly out of Memphis International Airport Sunday, call the airline first. Many flights have been canceled due to the winter storm.

Passengers are strongly recommended to check directly with their airline for the latest scheduling information. Third-party booking sites may not provide the same level of real-time updates that are available from the airlines.

With the first flight Sunday scheduled for 11:35 am, TSA and concessions are set to open at 9 a.m. But that timing could change depending on weather and airline schedule developments.

Anyone needing to check flight status can visit this site.

Don’t be fooled by what looks like a pretty snowfall outside this morning, the National Weather Service said Saturday morning, Jan. 24.

Yes, about an inch of snow fell in Memphis overnight, but so did around an inch of sleet.

And while you may not be able to see that the sleet is continuing to fall, you can hear it as it smacks the trees, house and car.

With the temperatures below freezing, that sleet is turning to ice when it hits the ground.

Memphis emergency officials cautioned Saturday morning that the full effect of the winter storm would not be felt until later in the day. 

Memphis’ leaders, along with everyone else, are waiting to see how much ice accumulates when the precipitation transitions from sleet to freezing rain Saturday afternoon. During an 8 a.m. news conference, they told residents to stay off the roads and remain vigilant. 

“Ice remains the real threat to the electric system,” Memphis Light, Gas and Water head Doug McGowen said. “We are still forecast to get — in the majority of the MLGW service area — below one quarter of an inch of ice. That would result in spotty outages due to down limbs and individual lines. ... Under a quarter of an inch should not be widespread impacts. Between a quarter and a half (inch), we should expect some outages, and if it does change to go to more than a 0.5 inches, that’s what we would expect to have some larger impacts.”

Angie Shelton, the city’s deputy management director, said after the precipitation stops this weekend, bitter temperatures are expected and could add further danger to residents. The unknown variable remains the ice. 

To those of us hoping for a big snowfall this weekend, the National Weather Service has some bad news.

Most of what is expected to fall from the heavens this weekend will be sleet, and lots of it, perhaps as much as three inches.

In fact, National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Chiuppi used the word “unprecedented” to describe the amount of sleet that is expected to begin falling late Friday, Jan. 23, and continue all day Saturday.

“I know most people want to see snow, but really at this point it looks like it’s going to be sleet and the sleet is going to be especially impactful,” he said. “This amount of sleet is just kind of unprecedented. … I don’t think many of us have seen this much sleet all at once in our lives before, so it’s kind of a unique situation.”

Memphis Mayor Paul Young declared a state of emergency on Friday, Jan. 23. 

The state of emergency will last for seven days — and may be extended in seven-day increments. The emergency declaration allows the city to seek reimbursement for emergency expenses incurred during the storm scheduled to hit Memphis this weekend. 

The state of emergency makes it easier for the City of Memphis government to spend money to deal with the storm, waives certain contracting rules and makes it easier to rent equipment or employ permanent or temporary workers, according to the state law that authorizes municipalities to declare states of emergency.