The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
31°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Winter storm grips much of U.S. in snow, ice, Arctic cold

Snow, ice, and slush make roads treacherous around Massachusetts during winter storm Orlena as seen on Route US One in Saugus, Mass., on Feb. 2, 2021. New England may see up to 18 inches of snow through Monday, according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center on Sunday, with up to a foot possible in New York City. (Tribune News Service )
Snow, ice, and slush make roads treacherous around Massachusetts during winter storm Orlena as seen on Route US One in Saugus, Mass., on Feb. 2, 2021. New England may see up to 18 inches of snow through Monday, according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center on Sunday, with up to a foot possible in New York City. (Tribune News Service )
By Blake Brittain and Steve Gorman Reuters

A powerful U.S. winter storm spread a paralyzing mix of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Ohio Valley and mid-South to New England, compounded by bitter, arctic cold gripping much of the nation east of the Rockies.

Winter storm warnings were posted for most of the eastern third of the United States covering 118 million people, as the deep freeze strained energy supplies in some areas, and the National Weather Service predicted widespread, prolonged travel disruptions.

An estimated 157 million Americans were warned to bundle up against cold ranging from subzero temperatures along the Canadian border to below-freezing as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.

The arctic blast was accompanied by gusty conditions that sent wind-chill conditions – a measure of how cold it feels based on the rate of heat loss from the body – plunging as low as minus 50 Fahrenheit in the northern Plains.

As of Sunday night, 13 deaths were reported.

Deep snow, thick ice

Some of the heaviest snowfall, up to a foot or more since the storm developed on Friday, was measured on Sunday in parts of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had mobilized National Guard troops in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley to assist with the state’s emergency storm response.

The onslaught of snow, ice and winds hit air travel especially hard, with major carriers forced to cancel more than 11,000 U.S. flights scheduled for Sunday, according to industry tracking service FlightAware.com.

Ronald Reagan National Airport, located in northern Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington, was effectively closed altogether.

Airports serving other major metropolitan areas, including New York, Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina, had at least 80% of their Sunday flights canceled, FlightAware data showed.

Power outages were widespread across the South, where freezing rain deposited layers of ice up to an inch thick, toppling tree limbs and transmission lines.

More than 1 million homes and businesses in eight states from Texas to the Carolinas were without electricity at the height of the storm on Sunday, according to utility data posted online.

Tennessee bore the greatest brunt of energy cuts, accounting for about a third of all the outages.

More than 847,000 electricity customers remained without power as of 9:04 p.m. PST.