Winter Storm Fern spreads ice and snow across the U.S., threatening power and snarling travel

Freezing rain pinged off power lines in central Mississippi on Saturday as crews fanned out to trim ice-laden limbs. Fifteen hundred miles away, plows idled along an unusually quiet Times Square, where New York officials warned of more than a foot of snow. In Dallas-Fort Worth, flight information boards glowed red with cancellations as passengers slept on terminal floors.

All three scenes were unfolding under the same sprawling system: a multi-day winter storm that forecasters say is on track to affect most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

The January 2026 storm, dubbed Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel but unnamed by federal agencies, is combining Arctic air, heavy snow and what forecasters describe as “significant to locally catastrophic” ice accumulations from the Southern Plains to the Deep South. Over several days, it is disrupting air travel, threatening the power grid and exposing large gaps in how Americans prepare for extreme cold.

The National Weather Service said heavy snow is expected “from Oklahoma to the Northeast where over a foot of snow is possible for some locations through Monday.” At the same time, the agency warned of “widespread freezing rain and sleet” across the Southern Plains, the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Tennessee Valley and the Southeast.

The storm’s most intense impacts began Friday and are projected to peak through Monday, Jan. 26, with dangerous cold lingering beyond that in many areas. Meteorologists estimate that some form of winter hazard or extreme cold alert will touch as many as 200 million people in 30 to 40 states.

A stretched polar vortex and a 2,000-mile storm zone

The atmospheric setup behind the storm is familiar but extreme. A large mass of Arctic air plunged southward late in the week, helped by what meteorologists describe as a stretched or disturbed polar vortex—a high-altitude circulation that, when disrupted, can allow bitterly cold air to spill into the central and eastern United States.

As that cold air settled over the Plains and South, a broad low-pressure system organized over the southern Rockies and central Plains, drawing moist air from the Gulf of Mexico up and over the shallow cold dome. Where the warm, moist air rides high above freezing temperatures, the result is snow. Where it overruns air just below freezing at the surface, rain falls and freezes on contact, coating trees and power lines in ice.

By Saturday, the National Weather Service had posted an expansive lattice of winter storm warnings, ice storm warnings, winter weather advisories and wind chill alerts stretching roughly 2,000 miles, from the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico across Texas and Arkansas and through the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

Behind the storm, temperatures were running 25 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit below seasonal averages in parts of the Midwest and South. Forecasters warned that wind chills could fall below 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in the central Plains, with subzero wind chills reaching into northern Mississippi and Alabama.

Deep South braces for ice “catastrophic” to power lines

While blizzardlike conditions and heavy snow are drawing attention in the Midwest and Northeast, many forecasters say the storm’s most damaging impacts may come from ice in the Deep South.

Weather Prediction Center outlooks indicate that more than 1 inch of ice accretion is possible from northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas through central Mississippi and into western Alabama. In internal discussions summarized by forecasters, that corridor has been described as facing “significant to locally catastrophic” icing, with a high risk of extended power outages, downed trees and impassable roads.

Governors across the region moved to declare emergencies even before the first drops froze.

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp declared a statewide state of emergency on Wednesday, activating the State Operations Center and authorizing the call-up of as many as 500 Georgia National Guard troops. His order also temporarily lifted certain trucking regulations to speed deliveries of fuel, food and utility equipment and banned price gouging on essentials.

“As forecasts continue to evolve, Georgians should be prepared for freezing precipitation that causes dangerous conditions and the potential for damage and power loss beginning Saturday,” Kemp said in a statement. “I’m urging all Georgians to take necessary precautions now to ensure their families and pets can stay safe, warm, and fed over the coming days.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an emergency declaration for 19 northern counties at risk of freezing rain and sleet. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency, released $250,000 from the state’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund and temporarily allowed certain commercial vehicles to bypass weigh stations to speed storm response.

In the Carolinas, major utilities were blunt about the risk. Duke Energy urged customers to prepare for “multiday outages” as ice and wind build through Sunday and Monday. The city of Kannapolis, North Carolina, activated its Emergency Operations Center early Saturday and warned residents that a worst-case icing scenario could take weeks to fully repair.

Texas vows not to repeat 2021

Farther west, snow and sleet spread across parts of Texas and Oklahoma, with freezing rain in central and eastern Texas atop a hard freeze. In a state still marked by the February 2021 blackout that left millions without power, officials emphasized that they had learned from that disaster.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 134 counties ahead of the storm, focusing on potential strain to the state’s independent grid, overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT. State leaders have said power plants are better winterized and fuel supplies more robust than they were five years ago, and ERCOT has said it expects to meet demand.

Grid operators have cautioned that even if generation is sufficient, distribution systems remain vulnerable to ice and tree damage. As of early Saturday, roughly 17,000 customers in Texas were already without power, according to state briefings, a figure authorities warned could climb as the storm continues.

Northeast prepares for a more classic snowstorm

As the system pushes east, a more traditional winter storm is taking aim at the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and officials in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia have issued emergencies or states of preparedness ahead of anticipated heavy snow and mixed precipitation. New York City could see 10 to 16 inches of snow by Monday, according to local forecasts, with up to 20 inches possible in parts of the Hudson Valley. Interior New England and upstate New York are expected to receive at least a foot of snow, with lake-effect bands adding to totals after the main storm passes.

Officials across the region have imposed restrictions on certain types of trucks, shifted schools to remote learning and canceled weekend events. Early voting for some special elections in New York City scheduled for Sunday was postponed.

Flights canceled, highways slick and trains halted

By late Saturday, the storm had already triggered more than 9,000 flight cancellations over the weekend, according to flight-tracking services, one of the largest weather-related travel disruptions in recent memory.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was among the hardest hit, with about 72% of Saturday departures canceled, stranding travelers and snarling airline schedules nationwide. Major hubs from Atlanta to Chicago to New York also reported large numbers of cancellations and delays as airlines preemptively cut flights and repositioned aircraft.

On the ground, transportation departments in multiple states began pre-treating highways with brine and urging residents to avoid driving once the storm arrives. Officials warned that stretches of interstates 35, 40, 44, 55, 70, 80 and 90 could see hazardous or impassable conditions at various times as heavy snow or ice develops.

Amtrak canceled dozens of trains, including some in the Midwest and along the East Coast, citing safety concerns and expected delays.

Power crews fan out as grid operators watch the cold

Utilities and regional grid operators spent much of the week staging mutual aid crews and recalling power plants from maintenance as the Arctic air mass advanced.

The American Public Power Association said crews from public power utilities in multiple states had deployed in advance of the storm, warning that “more than 200 million people in 35 states are projected to be in the path of Winter Storm Fern” and that “widespread and possible long-lasting power outages” were likely in areas hit by heavy ice.

Grid operators that manage high-voltage transmission networks, including PJM Interconnection in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, asked some generators to postpone maintenance to ensure more capacity would be available during the cold snap. New York’s grid operator said it expected peak winter demand this week to remain below available supply but said additional emergency procedures were available if needed.

Officials stressed that the greatest dangers to electricity service may come not from shortages of generation but from damage to local lines and equipment, particularly where three-quarters of an inch or more of ice accumulates.

Federal government pre-positions aid

At the federal level, the White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency had moved teams and equipment into place in anticipation of the storm’s impacts.

President Donald Trump said FEMA was “fully prepared to respond” to the storm, describing nearly 30 search-and-rescue teams on standby, hundreds of generators and large quantities of food and blankets pre-positioned near forecast impact zones. The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued reminders on food safety during prolonged power outages, advising households to keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed and to discard perishable food kept above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours.

Uneven ability to endure days of cold

Beyond the immediate travel and power disruptions, officials and aid groups have expressed concern about people least able to withstand days of subfreezing temperatures.

Cities and counties from Texas to the Carolinas have opened warming centers for people experiencing homelessness and those living in poorly insulated housing. Public health officials have warned of elevated risks for older residents, people with disabilities who rely on electric medical devices, and households that cannot afford backup heating or hotel rooms if the power fails.

Many communities across the South and lower Appalachians were built with hot summers, not Arctic outbreaks, in mind. Homes with thin insulation, electric resistance heating and exposed plumbing are especially prone to cold-related damage, including burst pipes that can flood homes and shut down water systems.

A storm still unfolding

With the storm still moving east and north through the weekend, officials cautioned that snowfall totals, ice measurements and outage figures were likely to change quickly and in some cases worsen.

Meteorologists said the system could rival some recent winter events in terms of geographic reach and combined hazards, but emphasized that final assessments of its severity would come only after the last flakes fall and power is restored.

For now, from iced-over power lines in Mississippi to snowbound streets in the Northeast, much of the country is focused on getting through the next several days—and on whether the systems designed to keep people warm, connected and safe can withstand the weight of ice and cold this storm is bringing.