SAVANNAH, Ga. — A brutal winter storm dumped snow in Tallahassee, Fla., on Wednesday for the first time in nearly three decades before slogging up the Atlantic Coast and smacking southern cities such as Savannah and Charleston, S.C., with a rare blast of snow and ice.
Forecasters warned that the same system could soon strengthen into a ‘‘bomb cyclone’’ as it rolls up the East Coast, bringing hurricane-force winds, coastal flooding, and up to a foot of snow.
At least 17 deaths were blamed on dangerously cold temperatures that for days have gripped wide swaths of the United States from Texas to New England.
A winter storm warning extended from the Gulf Coast of Florida’s ‘‘Big Bend’’ region all the way up the Atlantic Coast. Forecasters said hurricane-force winds blowing offshore on Thursday could generate 24-foot seas.
Schools in the Southeast called off classes just months after being shut down because of hurricane threats, and police urged drivers to stay off the roads in a region little accustomed to the kind of winter woes common to the Northeast.
In Savannah, snow blanketed the city’s lush downtown squares and collected on branches of burly oaks for the first time in nearly eight years. William Shaw, a Savannah native, used baby steps to shuffle along a frozen road from his home to a post office.
‘‘It almost seems the town is deserted just like in the last hurricane,’’ said Shaw, 65. ‘‘There’s no one on the street. It’s got a little eerie feeling.’’
Dump trucks spread sand on major streets in Savannah ahead of the storm and police closed several bridges, overpasses, and a major causeway because of ice.
By the time the morning’s dreary sleet and rain turned to fluffy snow, Savannah came out to play. The National Weather Service cited unofficial reports of up to 2 inches of snow. It was the city’s first measurable snowfall since February 2010, and families with children flocked to Forsyth Park near the downtown historic district for snowball fights.
Across the Georgia-South Carolina line in Charleston, unofficial reports showed up to 3 inches of snowfall there, according to the weather service. There was enough snow at Chris Monoc’s house for his sons, 4 and 2, to go sledding a mile from Charleston’s iconic Ravenel Bridge.
‘‘They probably will be teenagers the next time something like this happens, and that’s kind of sad,’’ Monoc said. ‘‘But we’ll enjoy it while it is here.’’
Airports shut down in Savannah, Charleston, and elsewhere as airlines cancelled 500 flights Wednesday, and at least 1,700 more were cancelled Thursday. Interstate 95 was nearly an icy parking lot for almost all of its 200 miles in South Carolina. Troopers couldn’t keep up with the number of reported wrecks, which numbered in the hundreds.
In Tallahassee, Michigan transplant Laura Donaven built a snowman 6 inches tall. The city tweeted that snow fell there for the first time in 28 years.
‘‘I made a snowball and threw it at my dad,’’ said Donaven, a 41-year-old hair salon owner.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency through Friday for 28 counties. School systems on the Alabama coast waived uniform requirements so students could bundle up.
Florida’s largest theme parks announced that water attractions such as Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon, Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay, and SeaWorld’s Aquatica were closed. Temperatures were running well below normal for this time of year, and the lows are expected to hover right around freezing.
In Prairieville, La., Valerie Anne Broussard struggled overnight to keep warm in a house that is being rebuilt after the 2016 floods that hit the small community southeast of Baton Rouge. Her home has exterior walls and floors but no insulation, no central heating, and only a few working electrical outlets. Eggs that she left on the kitchen counter froze and broke open.
‘‘It’s like a camping trip that I didn’t sign up for,’’ said Broussard, who’s been huddling with her 8-year-old daughter, newborn baby, and boyfriend in a bedroom warmed by space heaters.
Making the most of the South’s bitter cold snap, the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro offered discounted tickets for those willing to brave the cold to see polar bears frolic in their kind of weather, along with Arctic foxes and elk. African elephants, lions, and gorillas were sheltered out of public view.
