Historic Winter Storm Brings Chaos to Eastern United States
A massive and historic winter storm, sweeping across the United States from the southwest to the northeast, has plunged tens of millions of Americans into a state of emergency. The system, which began battering the country on January 24, 2026, has delivered a dangerous mix of heavy snow, freezing rain, and bone-chilling cold, threatening widespread blackouts and paralyzing transportation networks.
Widespread Power Outages and Federal Emergency Response
As of Sunday morning, January 25, more than 800,000 customers were without electricity across numerous states, with the outages stretching as far west as New Mexico. Tennessee reported at least 300,000 customers in the dark, while Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana each saw over 100,000 affected. Other impacted states included Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama.
In response to the escalating crisis, President Donald Trump approved federal emergency disaster declarations for twelve states on Saturday, including South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia. The President urged citizens to stay safe and warm via a post on Truth Social.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that seventeen states and the District of Columbia had declared weather emergencies. Secretary Kristi Noem warned Americans at a news conference to take serious precautions, emphasizing the extreme cold and advising people to stock up on fuel and food.
Energy Grid Under Severe Strain
The U.S. Department of Energy took unprecedented steps to bolster the nation's power infrastructure. On Saturday, it issued an emergency order authorizing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to deploy backup generation resources at data centers and other major facilities, aiming to prevent catastrophic blackouts in the state.
On Sunday, a second emergency order was issued for grid operator PJM Interconnection in the mid-Atlantic region, allowing it to run specified resources regardless of state or environmental limits. Dominion Energy, which operates in Virginia and manages the world's largest collection of data centers, warned that if ice forecasts proved accurate, this event could rank among the most significant in the company's history.
Transportation Network in Disarray
The storm's impact on air travel has been devastating. Over 10,100 flights scheduled for Sunday were canceled, according to FlightAware, with more than 4,000 cancellations on Saturday. Major U.S. airlines scrambled to adjust operations and warned passengers of abrupt changes.
Delta Air Lines adjusted its schedule, canceling additional flights in Atlanta and along the East Coast, including in Boston and New York City. The airline planned to relocate experts from cold-weather hubs to support de-icing and baggage teams at southern airports. JetBlue canceled approximately 1,000 flights through Monday, while United Airlines proactively canceled flights in areas expecting the worst weather.
Forecast Warns of Prolonged and Dangerous Conditions
The National Weather Service issued stark warnings about an unusually expansive and long-duration winter storm. Forecasters predicted widespread, heavy ice accumulation in the Southeast, where crippling to locally catastrophic impacts were expected. Record cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills were forecast to descend further into the Great Plains region by Monday.
As the frigid air mass settled across the nation, the storm system began hitting the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and northeastern states, continuing its path of disruption. With emergency declarations in place and critical infrastructure under strain, communities across the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. braced for a prolonged battle against the elements.
