Freezing rain, heavy snow and bitter temperatures take hold across the U.S.
A mix of snow, ice wind and plunging temperatures gripped a broad section of the U.S., prompting schools and government offices to close in many areas on Monday.
Some 40 million Americans were under winter weather alerts over the weekend as a massive weather system churned up dangerous conditions across the country. Forecasters said the dreaded combination of all three was spreading eastward.
"Winter returned," said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
The National Weather Service said more than 36 million people were under winter alerts stretching over 1,500 miles from Kansas to the East Coast on Sunday, with nearly 4 million under blizzard warnings in Kansas and Missouri.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service had said Sunday that heavy snowfall and wind gusts of more than 40 mph would create blizzard conditions in parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri where upwards of 15 inches – the heaviest in a decade – were expected to make travel extremely hazardous and likely impassable in some roads.
Snow and ice blanketed major roadways in nearly all of Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the state's National Guard was activated to help any motorists who were stuck. At least 8 inches of snow were expected, particularly north of Interstate 70.
"For locations in this region that receive the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade," the weather service said early Sunday.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually stays penned up around the North Pole, spinning like a top. But sometimes it escapes or stretches down to the U.S., Europe or Asia — and that's when large numbers of people experience intense doses of cold.
Studies show a fast-warming Arctic gets some of the blame for the increase in polar vortex stretching or wandering.
The storm moved into the Ohio Valley before reaching the Mid-Atlantic states on Sunday into Monday, with a hard freeze even expected as far south as Florida.
Severe thunderstorms, with the possibility of tornadoes and hail, were also possible ahead of the storm system's cold front crossing the Lower Mississippi Valley, the National Weather Service warned.
Parts of upstate New York saw 3 feet or more of snow from a lake effect event Sunday.
Some major airlines took steps to help travelers rebook scheduled flights without incurring change fees. American, Delta, Southwest and United all waived change fees for passengers due to possible weather-related flight disruptions for Mid-Atlantic travel.
Dangerous weather disrupting travel
A fire truck, several tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles overturned west of Salina, Kansas. Rigs also jackknifed and went into ditches, state Highway Patrol Trooper Ben Gardner said.
He posted a video showing his boots sliding across the highway blacktop like an ice-skating rink.
"We are in it now," Gardner said as he drove to the scene of an accident. Online, he begged for prayers and warned that some roadways were nearly impassable.
Freezing rain in Wichita, Kansas, sent authorities to multiple crashes Sunday morning, and police urged drivers to stay home if possible and watch out for emergency vehicles.
Governors in neighboring Missouri and nearby Arkansas declared states of emergency. Whiteout conditions threatened to make driving dangerous to impossible, forecasters warned, and heighten the risk of becoming stranded.
"Please stay off the roads. Crews are seeing too many vehicles out and sliding off," Missouri's transportation department said on the social platform X.
The Kansas City International Airport temporarily halted flight operations Sunday afternoon due to ice. Dozens of flights were delayed, including a charter jet transporting the Kansas City Chiefs, before the runways reopened.
"Work will continue overnight to keep the airfield clear," Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a message on X.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency on Sunday ahead of the storm.
"Our top priority is safety, and state agencies are pulling the rope together to stay ahead of the challenges we may face," he said on X.
Air and rail travel also snarled
The storms also caused havoc for the nation's railways, leading to cancelations. Amtrak said in a statement that "adjustments have been made with no alternative transportation being offered" for many rail lines.
There were more than two dozen Amtrak cancelations Sunday, and more than 40 were planned for Monday.
The cancelations affected many parts of the country, but the Midwest was hit especially hard. A train between Chicago and New York and several regional trains between Chicago and St. Louis were among those canceled Sunday.
Nearly 200 flights in and out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport were canceled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.
Frigid air from the Arctic to blast areas as far south as Florida
Starting Monday, hundreds of millions of people in the eastern two-thirds of the country were expected to experience dangerous, bone-chilling air and wind chills, forecasters said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged New Yorkers to prepare for frigid temperatures through next week. "While we continue to respond to lake effect snow across the State, an arctic blast is expected to bring dangerously colder temperatures starting this weekend and continuing through next Friday," Gov. Hochul said.
Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit colder than normal as the polar vortex stretches down from the high Arctic.
"This could lead to the coldest January for the U.S. since 2011," AccuWeather Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said Friday, noting there could be up to a week or more of "temperatures that are well below historical average."
The biggest drop below normal would likely be centered over the Ohio Valley, but significant and unusual cold will extend south to the Gulf Coast, said Danny Barandiaran, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center.
A hard freeze was even expected in Florida, he added.
"The wind chills are going to be brutal," Woodwell Climate Research Institute climate scientist Jennifer Francis said. "Just because the globe is warming doesn't mean these cold snaps are going away."
