DALLAS — An area stretching from Texas to Tennessee braced Wednesday for the expected arrival of freezing rain and snow, as some other parts of the country that already received an arctic blast this week prepared to go another round with the plunging polar vortex.

Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, closed schools today and Friday in preparation for the storm, which could start dumping heavy snow on the region overnight. Although certain parts of the U.S. began to emerge from a deep freeze, life still hadn’t returned to normal in other locales, including the Kansas City area, which canceled classes Wednesday for a third consecutive day, and the Virginia capital, Richmond, which still was under a weather-related water-boil advisory until at least Friday.

The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires that were tearing through the Los Angeles area, forcing residents to flee from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.

A mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain is expected to fall on a stretch of the U.S. from New Mexico to Alabama starting Wednesday night and early today, with the heaviest amounts likely in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, according to the National Weather Service. In the most southern locations, the snow could turn into sleet and freezing rain, which meteorologists warn could cause hazardous driving conditions.

That system is expected to push northeastward by Friday with a mix of heavy snow and freezing rain forecast from southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas all the way to the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

As much as 8 inches of snow could fall in scattered parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through Saturday, the weather service said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced the closure of some state offices on Friday, while Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said all city offices would be closed that day, with employees working remotely.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.

In the Dallas area, crews treated the roads ahead of the expected arrival of 2 to 4 inches of snow today, along with sleet and rain. Up to 5 inches is expected farther north near the Oklahoma state line, the weather service said.

Mark Reid said Wednesday that he has been very busy delivering groceries for Instacart.

“I’m going to be done probably about 5 or 6 (p.m.) today and then tomorrow I’m going to be in the house,” Reid said outside of a Dallas grocery store as he loaded his fourth order of the day into his car.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the state had deployed several emergency agencies and opened hundreds of warming centers ahead of the storm.

“The lives of our fellow Texans are by far the most important thing,” he said, warning affected residents to avoid driving if possible.

Abbott also expressed confidence in the state’s power grid, which failed during an unusually cold storm in 2021, leaving more than 3 million residents without power and resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people. He said that if an outage occurs this week, it’s likely due to a downed power line.

“If there is a loss of power, it’s not going to be because of the power grid,” the governor said.

The storm could make the roads slick Friday as 75,000 fans head to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to see Texas play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Arlington spokesperson Susan Shrock said crews will be ready to address any hazardous road conditions around the stadium.