A colossal winter storm continued to batter large parts of the United States, dumping heavy snow across the Northeast, crippling travel nationwide, and leaving vast areas of the South without power, as the death toll from the extreme weather rose to at least 25.
Northeast US sees record snow and freezing temperatures
More snow piled up across the US Northeast on Monday under the tail end of a colossal winter storm that had already wreaked havoc across the South, leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Deep snow — over a foot extending in a 2,100-kilometre swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic, cancelled flights, and triggered widespread school closures.
The National Weather Service said areas north of Pittsburgh received up to 20 inches of snow and faced wind chills as low as minus 31 degrees Celsius late Monday into Tuesday. New York City saw its snowiest day in years, with 11 inches falling on Central Park.
Main roads throughout the city were largely clear Monday morning, but pedestrians had to plod through snow on some sidewalks, and multiple subway lines with above-ground tracks experienced delays.
Death toll rises across multiple states
At least 25 deaths have been reported amid the severe weather.
The rising death toll included two people run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, fatal sledding accidents in Arkansas and Texas, and a 28-year-old teacher in Emporia, Kansas, found dead and covered in snow by police with bloodhounds. She had last been seen leaving a bar without her coat or phone.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office reported that at least eight people were found dead outdoors over the frigid weekend. Officials reported three deaths each in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; two in Mississippi; and one in New Jersey.
Southern states hit hard by ice and power outages
Parts of Mississippi are reeling from the state’s worst ice storm since 1994. Officials scrambled Monday to provide cots, blankets, bottled water, and generators to warming stations in the hardest-hit areas.
The University of Mississippi cancelled classes for the entire week as its Oxford campus remained coated in treacherous ice. Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill said on social media that so many trees, limbs, and power lines had fallen that “it looks like a tornado went down every street.”
A pair of falling tree branches damaged real estate agent Tim Phillips’ new garage, broke a window, and cut off power to his home. He said half of his neighbours had homes or vehicles damaged.
“It's just one of those things that you try to prepare for,” Phillips said, “but this one was just unreal.”
By Monday midafternoon, there were more than 750,000 power outages nationwide, most of them in the South. In the Nashville, Tennessee, area, electricity was restored for some homes, but more than 170,000 others remained without power. Many hotels were sold out to residents escaping dark and frigid homes.
Alex Murray booked a Nashville hotel room for his family to ensure they had a working freezer to preserve pumped breast milk for their 6-month-old daughter.
“I know there's many people that may not be able to find a place or pay for a place or anything like that, or even travel,” Murray said Monday. “So, we were really fortunate.”
Travel chaos: thousands of flights cancelled and delayed
The winter storm also paralyzed travel across the US, forcing airlines to cancel and delay thousands of flights. Nearly 19% of scheduled flights were canceled by late Monday afternoon, according to Cirium, while FlightAware reported about 5,220 flights canceled and over 6,500 delayed by early evening. Sunday alone saw 11,000 flights scrapped, the highest daily total since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among carriers, American Airlines had the largest share of disruptions with nearly 1,180 flights canceled and about 1,130 delayed. Other heavily affected airlines included Republic Airways, JetBlue Airways, and Delta Air Lines. Boston Logan International Airport had the highest rate of cancellations on Monday with 71%, Cirium reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration said snow, freezing rain, and low visibility affected major hubs such as Boston and the New York area. American Airlines said the storm disrupted five of its nine hub airports, including its largest base at Dallas–Fort Worth, where freezing temperatures and ice halted flights.
United Airlines reported that cancellations had dropped sharply from 1,019 on Sunday to 320 on Monday evening. About 285 flights scheduled for Tuesday had already been canceled, according to FlightAware.
Bitter cold grips much of the nation
Bitter cold followed in the storm’s wake, with communities across the Midwest, South, and Northeast waking Monday to subzero temperatures. The entire Lower 48 states were forecast to have their coldest average low temperature of minus 12.3 C since January 2014.
“Record warmth in Florida was the only thing keeping that average from going even colder,” said former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue, who calculates national averages based on National Weather Service data.
More light to moderate snow was forecast in New England through Monday evening. Officials warned that extreme cold and hazardous conditions could persist throughout the week.
The storm is expected to become the costliest severe weather event since the Los Angeles-area wildfires in early 2025, with preliminary damage and economic losses estimated at $105 billion to $115 billion, AccuWeather reported.