Overview
- At least 20 states and Washington, D.C., have declared emergencies as the storm pushes from the Plains toward the Northeast.
- Power outages topped one million customers nationwide Sunday evening, with the South among the hardest hit, according to poweroutage.us.
- Nearly 15,000 flights were canceled over the weekend as major airports from Washington to New York curtailed operations, FlightAware reported.
- New York prepared for 20–30 cm of snow as Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and Houston opened shelters for vulnerable people.
- Officials reported fatalities linked to the cold, including at least five deaths in New York and two in Louisiana, as the NWS warned of catastrophic ice and life‑threatening wind chills driven by a polar‑vortex plunge.