Flights canceled as storm socks Southeast

Story Highlights

• NEW: Another winter storm hits Oklahoma and Arkansas
• More than 500 flights at Atlanta, Charlotte airports canceled
• Road travel may be hazardous in parts of North Carolina

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- More than 500 flights at the Atlanta and Charlotte airports were canceled as wintry weather brought rain, sleet and freezing rain across North Georgia and into the Carolinas on Thursday.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport canceled 450 incoming and outgoing flights, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

Those flights included 200 Delta Air Lines cancellations and 50 at AirTran Airways.

"The rest of the cancellations are scattered amongst other airlines," Bergen said.

A few planes in Atlanta were de-iced Thursday as a precaution, but most didn't need it as temperatures stayed above freezing.

At Charlotte Douglas International Airport, 75 flights were canceled.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the western Piedmont and portions of central North Carolina until midnight Thursday. (Watch forecast for Thursday )

The warning said snow will become mixed with sleet and freezing rain during the afternoon, with a quarter-inch of ice or more expected to accumulate, which could down trees and power lines.

"This will make travel very hazardous, especially [Thursday] morning through late [Thursday] evening," the warning said.

Thick snow could be seen tumbling down in the Charlotte metro area by 7 a.m. ET. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf forecast snowfall accumulations could reach as much as 3 inches later Thursday.

Schools and businesses in the area were closed Thursday or opened late, and more than 2,000 homes and businesses in western North Carolina were without electricity, The Associated Press reported.

Temperatures in the Carolinas were forecast to rise by 15 to 20 degrees by Friday, Wolf said, so any ice that accumulated Thursday should melt within the next 24 hours.

Farther north, light freezing rain was expected to develop in the Washington metro area Thursday night and then turn to snow, with 1 to 2 inches of snow accumulation expected by Friday morning.

Meanwhile, a second winter storm hit Oklahoma and Arkansas early Thursday, closing schools and keeping roads icy, the AP said.

The storm came a day after an earlier one dumped snow and freezing drizzle on the area, causing dozens of accidents and four deaths, according to the AP.

CNN's Chad Myers and Reynolds Wolf contributed to this report.

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