At least 30 people are dead from a colossal winter storm that blanketed a 1,300-mile stretch from Arkansas to New England with deep snow and left more than 560,000 without power Monday evening. The National Weather Service said areas north of Pittsburgh received up to 20 inches of snow with wind chills as low as minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and forecasters warned that a fresh influx of arctic air will sustain freezing temperatures in regions already buried in snow and ice.
The storm disrupted critical infrastructure across a swath of the country. Hundreds of thousands remain without power as repair efforts stretch across days in the hardest-hit areas, and forecasters warn that another winter storm could reach the East Coast this weekend.
Deaths across a sprawling region
At least 30 people died in the storm, with causes varying by location and circumstance. Two people were run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, while teenagers died in sledding accidents in Arkansas and Texas. Police in Kansas found a 28-year-old teacher dead in the snow after she was last seen leaving a bar without her coat and phone. In New York City, officials reported eight people found dead outdoors over the frigid weekend, with exact causes still under investigation.
Deaths occurred across multiple states: four in Tennessee, three in Louisiana, three in Pennsylvania, two in Arkansas, two in Texas, two in Mississippi, and one each in Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
Outages and infrastructure damage concentrate in the South
More than 560,000 power outages persisted Monday evening, with the majority concentrated in the South where freezing rain snapped tree limbs and power lines. Mississippi bore the worst of it, experiencing its worst ice storm since 1994. Governor Tate Reeves reported at least 14 homes, one business, and 20 public roads with major damage.
The University of Mississippi canceled classes for the entire week as ice blanketed its Oxford campus. Mayor Robyn Tannehill described the damage on social media, saying so many trees, limbs, and power lines had fallen that “it looks like a tornado went down every street.”
Real estate agent Tim Phillips’ new garage in Oxford was damaged by falling tree branches, with a broken window and power cut off. “It’s just one of those things that you try to prepare for,” Phillips said, “but this one was just unreal.”
Restoring power and managing displacement
In Nashville, electricity returned for thousands of homes and businesses by Monday evening, though about 146,000 still lacked power. Hotels in the area filled as residents left dark, freezing homes in search of heat and shelter.
Alex Murray booked a hotel room for his family to ensure access to a working freezer for pumped breast milk for his 6-month-old daughter, planning to stay through Wednesday while awaiting home power restoration. “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. “So, we were really fortunate.”
Across the nation, more than 12,000 flights were delayed or canceled Monday. On Sunday, 45 percent of U.S. flights were canceled—the highest daily rate since the COVID-19 pandemic—after major hubs like Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were clobbered by the storm.
Looking ahead: Record cold and another threat
New York City received 8 to 15 inches of snow across neighborhoods. Though public schools shut their buildings, the nation’s largest school system required roughly 500,000 students to log in for online lessons Monday, having eliminated traditional snow days after remote learning took hold during the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Weather Service forecast the entire Lower 48 states to experience their coldest average low temperature since January 2014, at minus 9.8 degrees Fahrenheit. A fresh influx of arctic air will sustain freezing temperatures in places already covered in snow and ice. Forecasters warned that another winter storm could hit the East Coast this weekend, with light to moderate snow expected in New England through Monday evening.