Thousands of flights canceled Historic winter storm moves through the USA
An explosively powerful winter storm is sweeping through parts of the USA: hundreds of thousands of households are without power and air travel is restricted.
01.02.2026, 18:30
SDA
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- Large parts of the USA are affected by a historically strong winter storm with lots of snow, gale-force winds, storm surges and dangerously cold temperatures.
- In the US state of North Carolina, localized snowfall amounts were among the highest since records began.
- In Florida, meteorologists reported new cold records for the month of February.
- On Sunday morning (Eastern time), more than 150,000 homes and businesses were affected by power outages, especially in Mississippi and Tennessee.
A severe winter storm has brought snow, gale-force winds, storm surges and dangerously cold temperatures to the south-east of the USA. According to the National Weather Service, an area of low pressure off the coast developed into a so-called bomb cyclone - an explosively powerful winter storm - on Sunday night.
In the US state of North Carolina, localized amounts of snow fell that were among the highest since records began. By the morning (local time), more than 25 centimetres had been measured on the coast in some places, and in Charlotte it was the fourth snowiest day in almost 150 years. South Carolina and parts of Georgia and Virginia were also affected.
Dangerous wind chill temperatures
Further south, the cold Arctic air flowing behind the storm also caused unusual weather phenomena. In Florida, meteorologists reported new cold records for the month of February: temperatures dropped below freezing in some places - even in parts of South Florida. According to the weather service, the last time such values were measured there was at the end of the 1980s.
Authorities warned of life-threatening wind chill temperatures, i.e. perceived temperatures that are often significantly lower than the measured values because strong winds draw heat from the skin. This significantly increases the risk of hypothermia and frostbite.
Second winter storm in a row
The new storm follows the extreme cold and heavy snowfall last weekend, which according to media reports killed at least 85 people in several US states. Hundreds of thousands of households in many places are still without power and therefore without heating. With the new outages, more than 150,000 households and businesses were affected nationwide on Sunday morning (local time), particularly in Mississippi and Tennessee.
Air travel also remained severely restricted: More than 1100 flights were canceled on Sunday, after around 2500 connections had already been canceled on Saturday. There were also numerous accidents and delivery delays on icy roads.
