Snow, ice, wind and plummeting temperatures sweeping the United States have led to hazardous travel conditions from central and southern states to the East Coast, prompting the closure of several schools and government agencies in several states.
Snow and ice covered major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the state National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. At least 20 centimeters of snow are expected, as well as gusts of up to 72 kilometers per hour.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri to New Jersey.
“For locations in this region that receive the greatest amounts of snow, this could be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” the weather service warned.
The polar vortex of very cold air generally revolves around the North Pole. People in the United States, Europe, and Asia feel this intense cold as the vortex escapes and plunges south.
Studies show that rapid warming in the Arctic is partly responsible for increasing the frequency with which the polar vortex extends its icy grip.
PHOTO ALBERT CESARE, USA TODAY NETWORK, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
A salt truck drives through downtown during a snowstorm in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 5, 2025.
School closures are expected to be numerous on Monday. School boards in Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky began announcing cancellations and delays Sunday afternoon. Public schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky, canceled classes, extracurricular activities and sports for their nearly 100,000 students.
Classes were also canceled in Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency on Sunday and announced that the state government would be shut down on Monday.
Over the weekend, at least 600 motorists were stranded in Missouri, according to authorities. Hundreds of car crashes have been reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was struck.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who declared a state of emergency, said government buildings would be closed Monday.
Virginia State Police reported at least 135 accidents as the storm entered the state on Sunday. In Charleston, West Virginia, where several inches of snow fell overnight from Sunday to Monday, authorities asked motorists to stay home.
In Indiana, snow covered portions of Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and U.S. Route 41, prompting state police to ask motorists to stay off the roads while snow plows tried to get the upper hand against the bad weather.
“It’s snowing so hard that the snow plows come by and within a half hour the roads are completely covered again,” said Sergeant Todd Ringle.
About 10 inches of snow fell in Kansas, and totals of 14 inches were expected in parts of the state and northern Missouri.
In Kentucky, Louisville recorded 19.5 centimeters of snow on Sunday, a new record for that date, which broke the previous mark of 7.6 centimeters set in 1910.
The storm is forecast to move into the Ohio Valley and reach the Mid-Atlantic states on Monday, with heavy frost expected as far south as Florida.
The storms caused damage to the nation’s railways, with more than twenty cancellations on Sunday and around 40 planned for Monday.
“If local officials are advising people not to travel, it is counterintuitive to try to provide full service when people are asked to stay home,” said Marc Magliari, Amtrak spokesperson. .
Nearly 200 flights to and from St. Louis Lambert International Airport have been canceled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.
The site poweroutages.us recorded Monday morning approximately 51,000 subscribers without power in Indiana, 94,000 in Kentucky and 70,000 in Virginia.
Starting Monday, the eastern two-thirds of the United States will experience bitter cold and dangerous wind chills, forecasters say. Temperatures could be 7 to 14 degrees Celsius below normal.
In Chicago, temperatures on Sunday ranged between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius and fell as low as 11 degrees Celsius in International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border.
Northeastern states are more likely to see several cold days after a mild start to winter, said meteorologist Jon Palmer of the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
Cold air will likely grip the eastern United States as far south as Georgia, and parts of the East Coast will see temperatures 10% below normal, Palmer said.
