Road closures, broken records and black ice: How South Mississippi survived the snowstorm

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The biggest snowstorm in six decades swirled east of the Mississippi Coast Tuesday evening after it dumped several inches of snow and froze roads so badly the region stayed mostly shuttered on Wednesday as officials pleaded with residents to avoid the ice.

The National Weather Service said nine inches fell in Long Beach and Ocean Springs, and warned snow across the Coast would not entirely melt until Thursday.

Slushy roads and sidewalks had transformed into slippery, frozen paths by Wednesday, and the temperature was expected to barely break freezing all day. Forecasters warned residents to take special caution in shaded areas, which could stay iced even longer because the sun cannot reach them.

5:15 p.m.: One last closure

All roads and bridges are now open in South Mississippi’s lower three counties, with the exception of the Interstate 110 loop that westbound traffic on U.S. 90 uses to head north.

3:30 p.m. Gulfport breaks temperature record

The low on Wednesday in Gulfport was 7 degrees.

That shattered the last record by 10 degrees. The last time temperatures plummeted that much was in 1985, according to the National Weather Service, when Gulfport reached 17 degrees.

3 p.m. Threat of black ice

Temperatures inched above freezing for a brief time Wednesday afternoon but will dip back below 32 degrees before the sun sets, the National Weather Service forecasts, with lows expected to be in the teens again Wednesday night.

All that snow and ice is going to re-freeze, potentially covering some roads and bridges with black ice, which is hard to see, slippery and treacherous.

“We’re going to be looking for that later on because there’s a lot of water on the streets,” said Brian “Hooty” Adam, director of Hancock County’s emergency management agency.

Read more about black ice and South Mississippi road conditions here.

2:50 p.m. Most bridges reopen

All roads and bridges are open in Hancock County and Harrison County has reopened three bridges, including the Biloxi River bridge over Lorraine Road.

The Fort Bayou Bridge on Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs also reopened Wednesday afternoon, a city spokesperson said. The Biloxi Bay Bridge between Ocean Springs and Biloxi is expected to reopen later Wednesday afternoon.

2:20 p.m. South MS temps colder than Alaska

Rare heaps of snow have fallen on the Gulf Coast. How much snow, you ask? More than has fallen all winter in Anchorage, Alaska (3.8 inches).

Locally, Tuesday’s snowfall was recorded as deep as nine inches in parts of Harrison and Jackson Counties according to the NWS’ unofficial report.

The Coast was also colder than Sitka, Alaska, Victoria, Canada and the Faroe Islands in the Norwegian Sea.

Read more about how the weather this week in South Mississippi compares to the coldest places in the world.

1:40 p.m. Pascagoula issues boil water notice

Pascagoula issued a citywide boil water notice Wednesday afternoon.

“Due to cold weather conditions, we are experiencing dangerously low water levels throughout the city,” an alert on the city’s website said. “Because of this, we are required to issue a citywide boil water notice until further notification.”

The city said on Facebook that its public works department was working to identify a leak in the water system that caused low water levels.

1:10 p.m. Popp’s Ferry Bridge reopens

The Popp’s Ferry Road and Cedar Lake bridges in Biloxi reopened to traffic early Wednesday afternoon, the city says. Exit ramps on Interstate 110 at U.S. 90 remain closed.

The Biloxi Bay Bridge that connects Ocean Springs and Biloxi on the waterfront remain closed, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation. The Fort Bayou Bridge on Washington Avenue also is closed.

Read more about when ice and snow will clear from roads here.

1 p.m. Snow visible from satellite

So much snow fell on Tuesday across the Mississippi Coast and the Deep South that the powder could be seen from space.

A satellite image taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Wednesday morning showed snowfall that stretched from Texas to the East Coast. The snowstorm had moved east of Mississippi Tuesday night but was still visible off the coast of the United States on Wednesday.

12:40 p.m. Casinos resuming operations soon

Temperatures slowly are rising and the ice on South Mississippi roads is melting, allowing managers at the 12 Coast casinos to resume normal operations.

While most of the casinos stayed open during Tuesday’s snowstorm that left South Mississippi blanketed, some did close their casinos and their restaurants.

Here’s the latest on when casinos will return to normal operations.

Noon: Did South MS break snowfall record?

The storm was historic: The National Weather Service received reports of 8.5 inches of snow in Jackson County, up to 7 inches of snow in Harrison County and up to nine inches of snow in Hancock County.

But the National Weather Service could not say that the snowfall broke records on the Mississippi Coast.

Read more about snowfall totals and why the record is unclear here.

11:30 a.m. Some schools staying closed

Districts including the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District, the Hancock County School District and the Pascagoula-Gautier School District have announced plans to stay closed on Thursday.

See the full list of school schedule decisions here.

11:15 a.m. Black ice reported in South MS

The Mississippi Department of Transportation is cautioning that roads are dangerous from Hattiesburg south, with reports of black ice on roads and bridges.

Several major bridges remained closed Wednesday morning, including the Biloxi Bay Bridge that connects Ocean Springs and Biloxi, the Popp’s Ferry drawbridge in Biloxi and the Fort Bayou drawbridge on Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs. Interstate 110 South of Bayview Avenue in Biloxi also remains closed, MDOT says.

Read more about road conditions and updated closures here.

10:30 a.m. I-10 open but icy

The Mississippi Highway Patrol got 100 calls for service on Tuesday and had already responded to 35 calls Wednesday morning, Trooper Landon Orozco said.

Interstate 10 is open but covered in ice. Orozco said many cars were staying off the roads but that troopers were responding to 18-wheeler crashes on I-10 and Interstate 59.

“We’ve got 18-wheelers literally everywhere,” Orozco said. “It’s nuts.”

No major injuries were reported. An 18-wheeler crashed on I-10 near the 10 mile marker in Hancock County Wednesday morning but the road had cleared up by 10:20 a.m., Orozco said.

“All the way across I-10 it’s real icy, real slick,” he said.

9:50 a.m. Stores announce reopening dates

Rouses Markets will reopen Thursday. Walmart Neighborhood Markets in Gulfport, on East Pass Road and in Orange Grove, are closed Wednesday and will reopen at 10 a.m. Thursday. Coast Transit Authority bus service is expected to resume at 1 p.m. Wednesday if roads are passable.

Read the full list of what’s open and closed here.

9:45 a.m. Ice covers roads

Ice has been reported on roads and bridges across Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

More than a dozen bridges and elevated roads closed Tuesday, and officials warned driving could be even more hazardous on Wednesday. Read a full list of road closures here.

Read more about icy road conditions here.

9:15 a.m. Update on power outages

Singing River Electric has restored all but about 46 of the 3,500 power outages reported Wednesday morning south of U.S. 90 in the Fontainebleau area between Ocean Springs and Gautier.

Mississippi Power is reporting 1,177 power outages, with 175 in Harrison County and 210 in Jackson County. Other scattered outages are reported across Forrest, Pearl River and Lauderdale counties. Coast Electric is reporting 65 outages, with 3 in Hancock County and 62 in Pearl River County.

Read more about power outages and what is causing them here.

8:30 a.m. NWS warns of 1 degree windchill

Forecasters said Wednesday morning that even though the storm is over, the danger is not. South Mississippi’s roads are covered in ice, and the National Weather Service warned of “extremely cold temperatures.”

High temperatures may only reach 34 degrees Wednesday afternoon in Gulfport. The National Weather Service said the minimum wind chill Wednesday morning on the Coast could plummet to 1 degree.

An extreme cold warning lasts through 10 a.m.

Officials are strongly discouraging travel. They are asking residents to avoid long exposures to the freezing elements but to dress in layers and cover all exposed skin if venturing outside.

Respite will come Sunday morning, when the Coast will finally wake to temperatures above freezing. Highs could reach the 50s on Saturday and the 60s on Sunday and Monday.

“There’s always light at the end of the tunnel,” the National Weather Service said.

8 a.m. Power outages reported in Jackson County

An outage that apparently began Wednesday morning left 3,580 homes in Jackson County without power as of 8 a.m., according to a Singing River Electric outage map.

The outages were clustered near Gulf Park Estates between Ocean Springs and Gautier.

This story was originally published January 22, 2025 at 8:07 AM.