Snow and Ice Pound the South, Snarling Travel

A heavy mix of snow and sleet on Friday swept across parts of the South that are not used to winter weather, prompting flight cancellations, school closures and official warnings to stay off the roads when possible.

A winter storm warning stretched from eastern Oklahoma to Virginia, the National Weather Service said, as a mix of snow and freezing rain fell in cities including Jackson, Miss.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Atlanta.

Parts of western Arkansas had more than a foot of snow, with heavy snowfall accumulating from the previous day. From Friday into Saturday, parts of the Mid-Atlantic, the Ohio Valley and the Northeast could receive between one and five inches of snow.

The widespread mix of wintry precipitation led to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights in and out of airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville and Charlotte, N.C., on Friday.

At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where nearly 60 percent of outgoing flights had been canceled or delayed, a ground stop was issued for all incoming Delta flights after an aborted takeoff led to passengers on a Delta plane being evacuated onto the snowy runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A Delta spokeswoman said that four people were treated for minor injuries and that there was “no indication of weather being the cause of the engine issue.”