Golden Triangle cities may have dodged an icy bullet Thursday, but dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic storm are expected to remain in the area into next week.

Life largely returned to normal today, after icy road conditions feared by emergency officials didn’t materialize overnight. Area schools and some businesses closed Thursday as snow and light rains fell across the area. But most precipitation dried before it could wreak havoc on roads and bridges today, and all local schools reopened normally.

Farther north, however, icy roads and bridges greeted motorists this morning.

Authorities say a motorist was killed Thursday morning in Panola County, where freezing winter weather coated some roads and bridges in ice.

Locally, Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G spokesman Brian Mobley reported five weather-related wrecks in nearby counties, including one in Oktibbeha. Injuries were reported from wrecks on Highway 9 North in Monroe County and Highway 278 west of Amory in Webster County.

The Highway Patrol and the state Department of Transportation confirmed the majority of ice has cleared and roadways are safe, but some bridges, hills and shady spots of road may have some lingering ice. The highway patrol is maintaining 24-hour patrols through the weekend.

As temperatures again drop into the teens tonight, local emergency officials are warning motorists to watch for accumulation of ice in less traveled areas.

John Turner, district spokesman for 4-County Electric Power Association, said six scattered power outages were reported in northeast Mississippi, affecting less than 100 customers, but none of the outages were directly weather-related.

Fatal accident

Highway Patrol officers responded to at least three dozen wrecks Thursday, with many of those in the northernmost counties, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Jon Kalahar.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Leslie White said Thursday’s fatal accident happened on U.S. 51 in Panola County about 7:57 a.m.

Carolyn A. Whitehead, a 49-year-old woman from Lambert, died when her 1998 Pontiac Grand Am ran off the road and overturned, White said.

"There was ice in the area, but I can’t say if it was contributing factor,” White said.

The weather has already been blamed on the hypothermia death of a 68-year-old man whose body was found Tuesday in his Lauderdale County home in east Mississippi after the butane gas that fueled his heaters apparently ran out.

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said she is investigating two deaths as possibly weather related.

An autopsy has been ordered in the death of a 43-year-old mentally ill woman who was found in a group home in Jackson.

Grisham-Stewart said she suspects hypothermia and that Janice Hollins’ body was “icy cold” when it was found Monday in a room with two broken windows. Cardboard covered one of the windows and the other was boarded up with a piece of paneling, she said. Authorities are investigating.

Another man may have died of hypothermia, though he was elderly and found Tuesday inside a home that wasn’t particularly cold, Grisham-Sewart said.

Winter emergency

Mississippi remains under a state of emergency declared Wednesday by Gov. Haley Barbour. Officials say the extreme subfreezing temperatures could be deadly in the coming days.

Windchills could dip below zero in the next few days in north Mississippi and actual high temperatures aren’t expected to rise above freezing through at least Sunday for most of the state.

The Mississippi Legislature, which just began its annual session, decided not to meet Friday because of concerns about the weather.

Report an outage

• 4-County Electric Power: 1-800-431-1544

• Columbus Light and Water: 662-243-7440

Find a Shelter

• Lowndes County Red Cross: 662-328-5710

• Oktibbeha County Red Cross: 662-323-4621

BE WARM, BE SAFE

4-County has these tips:

• Don’t use an oven or stove for heat.

• Make sure that space heaters are away from clothing or curtains or other flammable items.

• Make sure your fireplace or gas- or fuel-powered heaters or generators are properly ventilated.

• Keep a fire extinguisher handy.

• Have an emergency kit with flashlight, matches and candles, drinking water and a portable battery-powered radio.

• If you have a cell phone, make sure it is fully charged.