Southern states are recovering from a rare winter storm that swept across the Gulf Coast, causing abnormally cold temperatures, icy roads and snow.
Snow is one of the four great judgments of Allah (God), as taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam. The other three are rain, hail and earthquakes.
“Job, in the Bible, prophesied that Allah (God) has the snow and ice to use as His weapon in the day of war and battle against the wicked. We hear and read in the newspapers today of how great, hill-like, little mountains of snow are pushing down from the North not only in the northern states of Minnesota.
North and South Dakotas and Montana; but now the snow is in the New England States and they are declared to be disaster areas,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in Chapter 35 of his book, “The Fall of America.”
“The announcer of the disaster of snow in the New England States said that there have never been such great quantities of snow. All up and down the coast to the Carolinas, the rain takes up where the snow leaves off,” he added.
The recent cold front in the U.S. affected more than 220 million people, with the winter storm making its way down to the Sunshine State of Florida, according to CNN.
Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said around 40 million people primarily across southern states were under some type of weather hazard, including more than 21 million under a winter storm warning, the Associated Press reported.
An additional 170 million people from the Rockies to points eastward were under either an extreme warning or a cold weather advisory, he added.
Meteorologists with AccuWeather warned that the winter storm would “spread dangerous snow and ice along 1,000 miles of Interstate 10 from central Texas to northern Florida and the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas.”
“This will be a rare and especially dangerous winter storm right along the upper Gulf Coast that will result in major and lengthy disruptions to travel,” Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, said.
In preparation for the storm, the governors of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency. Schools closed in several southern states, along with schools in parts of Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.
At least a dozen New York counties were under a state of emergency due to two feet of lake-effect snow and extreme cold, according to the Associated Press.
By Jan. 21, parts of Texas to Louisiana were under a blizzard warning for the first time in recorded history. The National Weather Service defines blizzards as dangerous winter storms that combine either large amounts of snow or blowing snow with winds higher than 35 mph and low visibility for an extended period of time. Blizzards can cause power outages and frozen pipes.
More than 2,000 flights were canceled on Jan. 21, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flights in real-time. The bulk of canceled flights were going to and coming from Texas and Louisiana.
In addition, more than 33,000 customers were without power in Texas on the afternoon of Jan. 21, according to the website poweroutage.us. By that evening, over 25,000 customers experienced power outages in Ohio, over 10,000 in Louisiana, over 9,000 in Alabama and over 8,500 in Florida.
By the morning of Jan. 22, more than 45,000 customers were in the dark in Georgia, more than 37,500 in Florida, more than 25,500 in Texas and about 15,500 in Louisiana.
“The electrical grid in the central and eastern U.S. may be stressed as hundreds of millions reach to turn up the heat,” Mr. Porter said in the AccuWeather report. He warned of pipes in unheated areas potentially bursting, causing tremendous water damage.
“People, especially in the southern U.S., directly affected by this winter storm will be dealing with lots of disruptions to everyday life,” he said.
In other parts of the country, dangerously low wind chills placed millions at risk of frostbite if skin was exposed, according to CNN. By Jan. 22, four people had died of suspected hypothermia, one in Milwaukee, one in Georgia and two in Austin, Texas.
In addition, NBC reported more than 160 vehicular crashes in Harris County, Texas. Icy roads in Zavala County, Texas, caused five people to die in a vehicle crash, according to The New York Times.
The winter storm and polar vortex also hit or affected Tennessee, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. In several major cities in the North and South, highs were either slightly above freezing, or below freezing. “Below freezing” refers to temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
In cities like Atlanta, temperatures were as low as 17 degrees with highs of 31 degrees. In other cities such as Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La., low temperatures faced the possibility of falling to record levels last set in the 1930s, according to CNN.
CNN also documented the historic, widespread snow that stretched from central Texas to northern Florida. For many states, this snow was coupled with sleet and freezing rain. The snow blanketed beach vacation spots like Gulf Shores, Ala., and Pensacola Beach, Fla. according to the Associated Press.
By the afternoon of Jan. 21, Houston to southern Louisiana recorded three to six inches of snow, CNN reported. By that evening, the National Weather Service reported up to four inches of snow in the Houston area alone and eight inches of snow in New Orleans. New Orleans had not recorded measurable snow of at least 0.1 inch since 2009. Other parts of Texas received up to six inches.
The winter storm shut down the city of New Orleans. Student Minister Willie Muhammad of Mosque No. 46 is a native of the city and told The Final Call that the storm forced the closure of schools and government offices and the cancellation of an NBA game.
He referenced reports that New Orleans received more snowfall than many cold-weather cities in the country. “More than Philadelphia, New York and Anchorage, Alaska,” he said. “The city of New Orleans is unaccustomed to dealing with such large amounts of snow and ice,” he added.
While Student Min. Willie Muhammad admired the beauty of the snowfall, he also thought how easily Allah (God) could take something as beautiful as snow and make it into a deadly force.
He quoted words from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter titled, “Four Great Judgments of America,” which states, “Snow looks pretty because of its clean look. Almost everything of nature is beautiful, but it can be turned into death and destruction against man.”
In other parts of the south that rarely see snow, Chalmette, La., and Babbie, Ala., both boasted the highest amount of snowfall, with 11-11.5 inches reported. With 7.5 inches of snow, Mobile, Alabama, broke its previous snowfall record.
Florida’s previous record for snowfall was four inches set in 1954, according to USA Today. The Pensacola area received five to seven inches, and Milton, Florida, received more than nine inches.
Atlanta rarely receives one snow event during its winters. The city received snow twice in a one-to-two-week time span. The coastal city of Savannah, Georgia, received three inches of snow. Cordele, Georgia, received nine inches, according to The Washington Post.
Long Beach and Ocean Springs, Miss., both received nine inches of snow, The Washington Post reported. Parts of the Carolinas received six to nine inches. Norview, Virginia, received 4.1 inches.
CNN described this winter as the first since 2010 that all 50 states have had measurable snow.
In Chapter 35 of “The Fall of America,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad explained how God is using snow as a weapon against America.
“Storms after storms of snow and ice are rolling in from the North and are pushing great drifts that are just covering up everything. What can you do with a God like that?” he questioned.
“Job prophesied that Allah (God) has His weapons stored up to use in the day of battle and war with the wicked. He just takes some snow and covers them up. The Holy Qur’an says that Allah (God) destroyed people with just cold wind.
He froze them,” he continued. “Do you think that you can get away with fighting Allah (God)? No wonder the second Psalms says that He will sit in the heavens and laugh at those who are trying to fight against Him. He will have you crazy. It is true.”
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad posed the question, “Why should these things hit America?”
“The Revelations teach you why,” he answered. “It is because America is filled with devils and has such unclean persons living in America. That is true under the symbolism of a hateful bird. Every filthy, slimy, wicked person comes here for a haven, where he can do any wickedness he wants to do–the country is open and welcomes that type of person.”
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, has continued his teacher’s warnings on the four great judgments surrounding America.
In Part 10 of his 58-week broadcast lecture series, “The Time and What Must be Done,” delivered in 2013, Minister Farrakhan presented the solution to America.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is asking that you separate the Black man and woman, because God wants to make a great nation out of us; and give us a good sendoff,” he said. “Black man and woman: What should you do? Get busy! Let’s unite! Let us stop this wanton killing of each other!”
Minister Farrakhan urged Black people to look at the program of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and to unite under the program “to put the hands of our people to work, and the feet of our people moving in a free direction.”