ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: The icy fingers of winter are far reaching, and they're reaching farther south than normal. Its cold grip clutches many mid-South and coastal Atlantic states, in something they're not used to dealing with, snow and ice. The storm is changing weapons a bit. A light band of snow is still reaching across the South. But the storm is dumping mostly rain over Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. CNN's Eric Horng traces the path of the ice and snow.</s>ERIC HORNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In much of the South, a wintry mess, snow and freezing rain through Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, causing headaches for those accustomed to relatively docile winters.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's awful. It's a big mess.</s>HORNG: In Charlotte, a U.S. Airways jet skids off the runaway. None of the 142 passengers on board is injured. In Atlanta and surrounding counties, power is knocked out to hundreds of thousands of people. And on interstates and local roads throughout the Southeast, icy hazards abound. Authorities temporarily closed off slick interstate ramps near Atlanta, slowing traffic to a crawl, but the spin outs continue, and one police officer while aiding a stranded motorist found himself in need of help as well. Officer Warren Hinsman (ph) suffers a broken leg, when two vehicles collide and skid off the road. Hinsman is struck by a minivan, but is able to gingerly limp from the scene. Elsewhere in Georgia, crews worked feverishly to restore power to more than 300,000 people, many without heat. The state's first frozen precipitation of the season snapping tree branches and downing powerlines. (on camera): Forecasters say the region will likely be spared from more snow and freezing rain later this week, a welcome reprieve after a winter weekend to forget. Eric Horng, CNN, Atlanta.
Wintry Weather Grips Southeast U.S.