A monster winter storm started smashing vast areas of the U.S. early Sunday morning delivering snow, ice, sleet and power outages to millions.
AP reports widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened nearly 180 million people — more than half the U.S. population — in a path stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) cautioned.
A snowplow works to clear Markham street on January 24, 2026 in Little Rock, Arkansas. A massive winter storm is bringing frigid temperatures, ice, and snow to nearly 200 million Americans. (Will Newton/Getty Images)
People have been warned to brace for a string of frigid days as conditions worsen before they get better especially across the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week.
The NWS is warning residents in threatened areas to prepare for “widespread heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain.”
“The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service per AP.
Calling the storms “historic,” President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia.
“We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Many shoppers have rushed out to buy supplies as they fear the worst.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pre-positioned commodities, staff and search and rescue teams in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
“We just ask that everyone would be smart – stay home if possible,” Noem said, something made more possible by the fact that more than 10,000 U.S. flights were cancelled over the weekend as the winter storm strengthened its grip on America.
Cancelled flights show at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2026. A massive winter storm has dumped snow and freezing rain on New Mexico and Texas as it swept across the U.S. towards the northeast, threatening tens of millions of Americans with blackouts, transportation chaos and bone-chilling cold. (Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
The AP report further outlines forecasters say the damage in coming days, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.
About 140,000 power outages were reported in the path of the winter storm Saturday, including more than 58,000 in Louisiana about 50,000 in Texas, according to poweroutage.us.
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