| January 25 2026 |
Major Southern & Eastern U.S. Winter Storm: (1/23/26 - 1/26/26)
By: Peter Mullinax, WPC Meteorologist
Meteorological Overview:
A historic and massive winter storm unfolded in late January 2026 that produced long-term impacts from the Mid-South to the Northeast. Dangerous ice accumulations, copious amounts of sleet, and heavy snowfall would be responsible for widespread travel disruptions, extensive power outages and tree damages, greatly affect commerce, and unfortunately result in fatalities. At its peak, NWS watches, warnings, and advisories accounted for as many as 190 million people being affected by this winter storm.
On the morning of January 23, a lobe of the tropospheric polar vortex (TPV) tracked across southeast Canada and an arctic front associated with the TPV raced through the Mid-South and much of the East. A strong dome of 1050mb high pressure was analyzed at 18Z on January 23 over western North Dakota and slid east over the Midwest, effectively locking in a bitterly cold air-mass that enveloped much of the southern and eastern U.S.. In the West, a shortwave trough diving south into the northern Rockies and High Plains would help to strengthen a powerful 250mb jet streak from the Central Plains eastward into the Northeast by 12Z January 24. At the same time, an anomalous closed 500mb low over Baja California was working in tandem with a ridge of high pressure in the Gulf that fostered robust integrated vapor transport (IVT) over Mexico, transporting rich subtropical East Pacific moisture into the southern U.S. starting the afternoon of January 23. The slow progression of the closed low over Baja California is what led to this long-duration winter storm, directing anomalous subtropical moisture directly into an arctic air-mass over the southern and eastern U.S.. The results were a myriad of winter weather hazards that started in the Southern Rockies and High Plains late January 23, then over the Mid-South by the morning of January 24.
Residents from west Texas to the Lower Mississippi Valley awoke to an icy scene as the aforementioned subtropical moisture plume at low-mid levels streamed in over the arctic air-mass at the surface. This “over-running” of precipitation atop a frigid, subfreezing air-mass is a classic recipe for sleet and freezing rain. Farther north, snow was the primary precipitation type from the TX Panhandle and the Cap Rock north and east through much of KA, OK, and into the Ozarks and Middle MS Valley. The slow progression of the closed low prolonged the steady stream of anomalous moisture while the dome of arctic high pressure remained entrenched over the eastern third of the CONUS. By the evening of January 24, the 500mb closed low was still over northern Mexico, but 250mb jet streak coupling was unfolding over the ArkLaTex that would then move over the MS Valley by the morning of January 25. The impressive upper-level divergence this generated allowed for the shield of precipitation to expand into the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes. Heavy snow and sleet unfolded there, while rapidly accreting ice on trees and power lines was still unfolding from as far south as the TX Hill Country and northern LA into the TN Valley.
Farther east, the dome of arctic high pressure reached the Northeast, with the 06Z January 2025 surface analysis showing a pronounced cold-air damming (CAD) signature over the Mid-Atlantic and reaching well south into eastern GA. These CAD setups are vital in the production of wintry precipitation, and this storm was no different as the strong IVT emanating from the East Pacific and now out of the Gulf by the early morning of January 25 was prompting precipitation to fall in the form of freezing rain from the southern and central Appalachians eastward into the Carolinas and through southern VA. Farther north, temperatures were in the single digits as snow fell over northern VA on north into the Northeast, but snow would transition to sleet around the DC/Baltimore metro areas during the late morning on January 25, then transition to sleet from Philadelphia on north into the NYC metro area Sunday afternoon. Incredibly, surface temperatures were in the teens when this occurred. The changeover to sleet was due to a burgeoning nose of above freezing temperatures between 700-750mb that caused snow to melt as it fell aloft, then quickly refreeze into a low-level arctic air-mass that was considerably below freezing. Snow would remain the primary precipitation type farther north over northern OH, much of central and northern PA, and across most of New England where snowfall rates between 1-2 inches per hour were common.
Snow continued in parts of New England during the morning of January 26 before finally concluding later in the afternoon. The long-duration effects of this storm come into play not just from the extensive swath of heavy snow, paralyzing sleet, and damaging ice, but because the air-mass in wake of the storm Monday and Tuesday was still well below freezing. To make matters worse, a reinforcing shot of arctic air would race south through the Midwest the morning of January 27 and reach the hard-hit areas of the Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast later in the day. Sub-freezing temperatures for days after the storm’s conclusion resulted in little to no melting across the area impacted by the extensive swath of snow/sleet and ice weighing down trees and power lines for days after the storm’s conclusion. As the impacts section details, this was the primary reason infrastructure and travel remained heavily impacted days after the storm had concluded.
Impacts:
There is no shortage of hazards and impacts this storm was responsible for as heavy snow and disruptive ice accumulations stretched over 2,000 miles from the southern Rockies to New England with the dangerous cold in wake of the storm exacerbating the dire situation in the Mid-South. In terms of snowfall, the Rockies from Colorado southward into New Mexico received as much as a foot of snow, while farther east some snowfall totals topped 6 inches in West Texas. Starting from the TX Panhandle on north into central OK and central KS, then working east across the Middle Mississippi River Valley, the Lower Great Lakes, the central Appalachians, the northern Mid-Atlantic, and lastly into New England, there laid a swath over 2,000 miles long where at least 6 inches of snow fell. Within that astonishing footprint of at least 6 inch snowfall totals was a nearly 1,000 mile long stretch from southern IL to southern New England where at least 12 inches of snow fell. Numerous daily record snowfall totals were set across the country with a few locations seeing accumulations that propelled this storm into their city’s top 5 all-time snowstorms: Evansville (IN), Columbus (OH, and Dayton (OH). A handful of other cities reported a top 10 snowfall in their recorded history, including Boston (MA), Hartford (CT), and Cincinnati (OH).
Ice accumulations were crippling across the Mid-South with as much as one inch of ice accumulating from the ArkLaTex region on east through the Tennessee Valley and into the southern Appalachians. Major ice accumulations between one-quarter and one-half inch were observed in southeast TX, central LA, northern GA, and the southern Mid-Atlantic. The footprint of hazardous ice accumulations of at least one-tenth of an inch was remarkable as it extended from as far south and west as the San Antonio, TX metro area northeastward across the Baltimore-Washington metro area. In addition, heavy sleet accumulations between 3-6 inches were observed in northern LA, southern AR, portions of the TN Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic. The combination of heavy snow and copious amounts of sleet on top made shovelling and snow removal a challenge both during the storm and in the days after the storm. As the snow and sleet melted and became a thick solid in the bitter cold behind the storm, the snow/sleet combination would form what became “snowcrete” that effectively encased unshoveled roads, sidewalks, and cars in a nearly impenetrable block of ice.
This winter storm was making impacts to the economy and travel before the first flakes fell, as major airlines were offering travel vouchers and cancelling flights before the storm’s arrival in the South and the East. The worst day of flight cancellations was on Sunday, January 25 when, according to FlightAware, over 13,000 flights were cancelled. It was the largest number of cancellations in a single day since March 2020, which occurred due to the advent of the COVID pandemic. In total, over 19,000 flights were cancelled as a result of this storm. Numerous roads were closed during and, in some cases, days after the storm had concluded. Some schools were closed for an entire week in the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic as the frigid temperatures following the storm kept neighborhood roads treacherous to drive on, sidewalks dangerous to walk on, and bus stops hazardous.
The cleanup from the extensive tree damage in the Mid-South continued not only days after the event, but for weeks after the storm. At their peak, power outages approached 1.1 million per PowerOutage.us. Parts of the Southeast and Southern Plains that dealt with power outages saw their power come back within 24-48 hours of the event concluding, but for areas in Mississippi and Tennessee that reported around 1 inch of ice accretion on trees and power lines, many communities were without power for over a week. In some severe instances, power was out for nearly two weeks in northern Mississippi.
Regarding fatalities, it is reported that over 108 deaths are attributed to this winter storm. This makes this winter storm deadlier than the Buffalo/western NY blizzard in December 2022, and the deadliest since the winter storm in February 2021 that killed as many as 250 people.
Lastly, while not related to the U.S., this winter storm produced record snowfall in Canada as well. On January 25, the city of Toronto, ON measured 22 inches of snowfall, making it the single snowiest day in the city’s recorded history. The previous record was set back on December 11, 1944 when 19 inches fell. So not only was this storm breaking records in the U.S., but it was breaking records in southeast Canada that stood for 82 years.
