Airport delays, travel warnings as southern U.S. storm maintains icy grip – National [Video]

Snow and ice across the U.S. South are expected to relinquish their grip only slowly as the weekend continues.

Major airports including Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to report disruptions Saturday, while temperatures are expected to plunge after sundown Saturday, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherous.

“I definitely don’t think everything’s going to completely melt,” said Scott Carroll, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Atlanta.

“Especially the secondary roads will probably still have some slush on them. And then the big concern after that is that we’re expecting really cold temperatures tonight with the clouds continuing to clear out.”

While flights were operating, airlines were already piling on new cancellations and delays after Friday’s weather slowed airline travel to a crawl. By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 300 flights in and out of Atlanta had been canceled, while more than 250 more had been …