A plow truck clears snow on I-40 throughout Winter Storm Fern in Oklahoma Metropolis, Oklahoma, U.S. January 24, 2026.
Nick Oxford | Reuters
A large winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow throughout a lot of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and paralyzing air and highway visitors. Energy strains had been draped in ice, and lots of of 1000’s of individuals within the Southeast had been left with out electrical energy.
The ice and snowfall had been anticipated to proceed into Monday in a lot of the nation, adopted by very low temperatures, which might trigger “harmful journey and infrastructure impacts” to linger for a number of days, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned.
Heavy snow was forecast from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, whereas “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Decrease Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
“It’s a distinctive storm within the sense that it’s so widespread,” climate service meteorologist Allison Santorelli mentioned in a cellphone interview. “It was affecting areas all the best way from New Mexico, Texas, all the best way into New England, so we’re speaking like a 2,000 mile unfold.”
President Donald Trump had accepted emergency declarations for not less than a dozen states by Saturday, with extra anticipated to come back. The Federal Emergency Administration Company pre-positioned commodities, workers and search and rescue groups in quite a few states, Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul mentioned the state was bracing for the longest chilly stretch and highest snow totals it has seen in years. Communities close to the Canadian border have already seen record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown registering minus 34 levels Fahrenheit (minus 37 levels Celsius) and Copenhagen minus 49 F (minus 45 C), she mentioned.
“An Arctic siege has taken over our state,” Hochul mentioned. “It’s brutal, it’s bone chilling and it’s harmful.”
Storm knocks out energy and snarls flights
As of Sunday morning, about 213 million individuals had been below some form of winter climate warning, she mentioned. The variety of prospects with out energy topped 880,000, in accordance with poweroutage.us, and the quantity was rising.
Tennessee was hardest hit with practically 300,000 prospects out, and Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi all had greater than 100,000 prospects at nighttime.
Automobiles journey eastbound on Interstate-20 close to an indication advising motorists of potential icy circumstances throughout a winter storm Saturday, on Jan. 24, 2026, in Dallas.
Julio Cortez | AP Photograph
Some 11,000 flights had already been canceled Sunday and greater than 13,000 have been delayed, in accordance with the flight tracker flightaware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey had been hit particularly arduous.
At Philadelphia Worldwide Airport, inside shows registered scores of canceled flights and few autos may very well be seen arriving Sunday morning. At Reagan Nationwide in Washington, just about all flights had been canceled.
Bitter chilly makes issues worse
Even as soon as the ice and snow cease falling, the hazard will proceed, Santorelli warned.
“Behind the storm it is simply going to get bitterly chilly throughout mainly the whole thing of the japanese two-thirds of the nation, east of the Rockies,” she mentioned. Meaning the ice and snow will not soften as quick, which might hinder some efforts to revive energy and different infrastructure.
Alongside the Gulf Coast, temperatures had been balmy Sunday, hitting the excessive 60s and low 70s, however thermometers had been anticipated to drop into the excessive 20s and low 30s there by Monday morning. The Nationwide Climate Service warned of damaging winds and a slight threat of extreme storms and even a quick twister.
In New York Metropolis, Mayor Zohran Mamdani mentioned not less than 5 individuals died as temperatures plunged Saturday earlier than the snows arrived in earnest.
“Whereas it is nonetheless too early to find out the causes of dying, it’s a reminder that yearly New Yorkers succumb to the chilly,” he wrote on X.
The Democrat additionally introduced that Monday could be a distant studying day for college kids within the nation’s largest college system. Different officers throughout the affected areas additionally introduced that college could be canceled or held remotely Monday.
Restoration might take some time
Nashville and the encompassing space was seeing ice accumulations of half an inch or extra, with icicles hanging from energy strains and overburdened tree limbs crashing to the bottom.
In Oxford, Mississippi, police on Sunday morning used social media to inform residents to remain dwelling because the hazard of being exterior was too nice. Native utility crews had been additionally pulled from their jobs through the in a single day hours.
A Waffle Home signal is displayed exterior of the storefront in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
“Attributable to life-threatening circumstances, Oxford Utilities has made the tough determination to drag our crews off the highway for the evening,” the utility firm posted on Fb early Sunday. “Timber are actively snapping and falling round our linemen whereas they’re within the bucket vehicles.”
Tippah Electrical Energy in Mississippi mentioned there was “catastrophic harm” and that it may very well be “weeks as a substitute of days” to revive everybody.
The Tennessee Valley Authority offers energy to some utilities throughout the area, and spokesperson Scott Brooks mentioned the majority energy system stays steady however in a single day icing had precipitated energy interruptions in north Mississippi, north Alabama, southern center Tennessee and the Knoxville, Tennessee, space.
Icy roads made journey harmful in north Georgia, the place the Cherokee County Sheriff’s workplace posted on Fb, “You recognize it is unhealthy when Waffle Home is closed!!!” together with a photograph of a shuttered restaurant. Whether or not the chain’s eating places are open — referred to as the Waffle Home Index — has develop into a casual solution to gauge the severity of climate disasters throughout the South.
