NEWS · B2 Level - Part 3

Southern US Faces Unusual Winter Storms

We start today with record-shattering winter weather that brought the US Gulf Coast to a standstill.

Level: B2 · 22 sentences

Transcript

  1. We start today with record-shattering winter weather that brought the US Gulf Coast to a standstill.
  2. This week, a major winter storm impacted a large area of the Deep South
  3. not used to dealing with ice or snow.
  4. That caused widespread school and work closures and travel disruptions,
  5. like people stranded on roads and thousands of canceled flights.
  6. Bitter cold temperatures this week are the main cause of the unlikely Southern snowstorm.
  7. Parts of Florida saw more than 8 inches of snow,
  8. potentially more snow than the state has ever seen since keeping records.
  9. New Orleans, which only sees snow maybe once in a decade, also got hit with 8 inches of snow,
  10. shattering its previous snow record of 2.7 inches.
  11. The Big Easy has now seen more snow this winter than Chicago,
  12. can you believe?
  13. And here are some more head-scratchers:
  14. this week, there was more snow on the ground in Florida than in Iowa and Nebraska combined.
  15. And get this: it was colder in Pensacola, Florida, this week than in Anchorage, Alaska.
  16. States of emergencies were declared
  17. from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast of the Carolinas
  18. as officials in impacted states urged residents to stay put.
  19. The dangerous winter conditions from both the extreme cold and the winter storm
  20. led to at least nine deaths reported nationwide.
  21. With the cold is sticking around until the end of the week,
  22. slippery conditions will likely remain there for some time.