A massive winter onslaught, named Winter Storm Fern, has devastated North America from northern Mexico to the U.S. north-east, claiming at least 12 lives and cutting power to more than a million homes.
Schools shut nationwide, roads blocked, and over 11,000 flights cancelled as warnings blanketed 230 million people—a record scope from the National Weather Service.
Louisiana confirmed two hypothermia deaths on Sunday. Austin’s mayor reported an “exposure-related” fatality. Kansas officials said a snow-covered woman “may have succumbed to hypothermia.” Tennessee logged three weather deaths.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani noted five Saturday deaths in the city, with causes pending. “It is a reminder that every year New Yorkers succumb to the cold,” he said.
Outages peaked above one million in Texas, Louisiana and beyond, with 822,000 lingering Monday. Snow piled 15 inches in the north-east, 13 in Indiana, and up to eight elsewhere.
Twenty-four states declared emergencies, as the Senate axed a vote and Amtrak halted trains.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged staying indoors.
“This is certainly the coldest weather we’ve seen, the coldest winter storm we’ve seen in years,” she said Sunday. “A sort of an arctic siege has taken over our state and many other states across the nation.” The “brutal” cold promised prolonged chills. “It is bone chilling and it is dangerous,” she added.
Kentucky’s Andy Beshear noted excess ice. “That is not good news for Kentucky,” he said.
Washington’s Muriel Bowser called it “the biggest snowstorm in a decade in DC this weekend.”
Freezing rain builds perilous ice, felling trees, and lines amid hundreds of crashes. “The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” said NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli to CBS News.
Canada expects 15-30cm snow in Ontario. A wavering polar vortex drives the Arctic plunge, with cold lingering into February.