Northeast Under Siege: Colossal Winter Storm Disrupts U.S. Travel

Thu Jan 29 2026 18:55:58 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A massive winter storm wreaks havoc across the Northeast, bringing deep snow, ice, and frigid temperatures. Residents navigate through treacherous conditions as schools close and flights are canceled. Amid the chaos, a sense of community emerges.

The Northeast faces a severe winter storm, resulting in over a foot of snow across a vast region and causing significant disruptions. Residents share mixed feelings about the closures, reveling in the beauty of the snow while grappling with the challenges presented by harsh weather. Bitter cold follows the storm, with advisories issued across numerous states as temperatures drop dangerously low.

The U.S. work week opened with yet more snow dumping on the Northeast under the tail end of a colossal winter storm that brought ice and power outages, impassable roads, canceled flights, and frigid cold to much of the southern and eastern United States.

Deep snow — over a foot (30 centimeters) extending in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic, canceled flights, and triggered wide school cancellations Monday.

In some of the hardest-hit places, up to two feet (60 centimeters) were forecasted. In Falmouth, Massachusetts, residents faced relentless snowfall, prompting local minister Nell Fields to shovel her way out just to let her dog outside, with seven inches (18 centimeters) already fallen.

Amid the challenges, Fields noted, I feel that the universe just put a big, huge pause on us with all the snow. Meanwhile, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, January Cotrel embraced the wintry wonderland, hoping for a significant shutdown of the city to enjoy a day in the snow.

Bitter cold followed the storm’s wake, with forecasts suggesting the coldest average low temperature — 9.8 degrees (minus 12.3 Celsius) — for the entire lower 48 states since January 2014. Meanwhile, from Montana to the Florida Panhandle, cold weather advisories were issued as temperatures dropped to zero (minus-18 degrees Celsius) and colder.

In Mississippi, where the storm’s impact was felt heavily, Governor Tate Reeves cautioned against driving unless absolutely necessary, as officials deployed significant resources to combat road icing. At one point Sunday morning, about 213 million people were under some kind of winter weather warning. With conditions expected to linger into Monday, power outages affected hundreds of thousands, highlighting the storm’s widespread effects.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani reported incidents of fatalities related to the freezing temperatures, emphasizing the serious nature of the storm's aftermath.

Despite the winter disruptions, minister Fields expressed a more reflective sentiment about the storm, indicating it offered moments of quiet for communities to reassess what truly matters.

Many residents cope with the aftermath, united in navigating the challenges, and a spirit of resilience emerges amid the harsh winter landscape.