MEMPHIS, Tennessee — An ice storm was just the start of it.
For seven days the Mid-South was hit again and again and again with an unusual blast of Arctic conditions.
February 11th, Thursday morning, a mix of sleet and ice pounded the Mid-South coating everything in sight.
Trees were weighed down to the point that some came crashing down, smashing whatever was in its path like Ethan Chamberlin's truck in Midtown Memphis.
"It was kind of disbelief at first like come on, how could this happen right now?", Chamberlin said.
For the next three days the Mid-South got a break from the wintry mix but the bitter cold stuck around as people stocked up and prepared to stay warm.
"I have safety blankets and camping candles and lights and stuff like that," Porchtia Foster said.
By Sunday, the snow began to fall, a mere dusting compared to what was to come.
Come Monday morning the streets would be coated as the snow continued to pile on more and more throughout the day as conditions deteriorated everywhere.
It was the most snow Memphis had seen in years.
"I feel like we haven't got this much snow in a while," one driver said as cars struggled to get around.
From snowball fights to skiing, people ditched the wheels and took to the streets of Downtown Memphis to enjoy the historic snowfall.
PHOTOS: Winter Weather in the Mid-South
“I never thought I'd be experiencing a blizzard on Beale street," Ky Mickles said.
The fun would fizzle come Tuesday, the coldest morning in Memphis in more than 30 years. Memphis International Airport registered a temperature of three degrees. Wind chills dipped into negative digits.
Plows pounded the streets trying to clear the busiest roadways on Tuesday before Mother Nature would strike again.
"Praise the lord we don't need a lot of trucks very often, we just have to hunker down and bear it," Dennis Richards said.
Ahead of round three, businesses and grocery stores closed early.
"I just think that it's too dangerous for my employees and customers to try and make it to the store," Krista Scott, the owner of Bluff City Soap in Southaven, said.
By Wednesday afternoon the snow was back with a vengeance. Once again, it coated streets that a limited-number of plows already struggled to keep up with, paralyzing the Mid-South.
While a weeks worth of winter may have put some ice in our veins, our hearts were warmed by the many stories of neighbors helping neighbors.
JUICE Orange Mound opened its building as a warming center bringing people from out of the cold and caring for them like they were family.
The MidSouth Jeep Club braved the conditions to shuttle so many healthcare workers to work.
Constance Abbey served more than a 1,000 meals in a matter of days to the unhoused.
Not to mention, the hundreds of people that stopped along the road to push other drivers stuck in the snow.
The winter may have interrupted Mid-South lives, and dangerous at times, but when it came to kindness, the Mid-South won that round. All three of them.
