ATLANTA (AP) — Winter weather turned travel treacherous across the South, shutting down interstates in Louisiana, causing highway crashes in Kentucky and closing airport runways in Texas as snow turned the red clay white and prompted schools to close across the region.

By Tuesday evening, the wide band of wintry weather stretching from Texas to Massachusetts was steadily dropping snow on metro Atlanta. About 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of the city, the snow was forcing cars on Interstate 75 to slow considerably amid scattered fender benders.

Many Georgia school districts already had ann...