The snow, sleet and ice that swept from the Plains to the East Coast in the past four days has mostly ended, but dangerously cold temperatures are coming in their wake, forecasters say.
The storm caused chaos as it dumped several inches of snow across a 1,300-mile path from the heartland since Saturday, causing deadly traffic accidents, knocking out power and canceling flights.
But as it moves offshore, a new Arctic blast will affect the same areas where it caused havoc. By Tuesday, the freezing temperatures will lock in snow and ice and create life-threatening conditions for those without power who don’t have access to heat.
From northern Texas and the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic, temperatures are expected to dip between 5 to 20 degrees below average, according to the National Weather Service.
“If you don’t have power restored by tonight, you need to be thinking about the plans you may need to make to be safe,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear urged during a Monday news conference. Tens of thousands of customers remain without power in the state.
Crews are racing against the clock to restore power and clear roads before the cold arrives.
“We have about 24 hours before it gets so cold that the salt is not going to work, so we need as much time and as much road to do as much work as possible throughout the course of today,” Beshear said.
The frigid temperatures will stretch as far south as Texas, where one person was found dead outside a bus shelter in Houston Monday morning as overnight temperatures average in the low 30s. Gov. Greg Abbott has proactively activated state emergency response resources.
Here’s what happened:
• Storm turns deadly: At least four people died in traffic crashes caused by the storm. A 28-year-old man died after his pickup truck ran into a trailer that jackknifed in icy conditions in Ford County, Kansas, on Saturday. Two people in Wichita, Kansas, died Sunday when their SUV slid and went down an embankment, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. A dump truck slid out of control in Independence, Missouri, Sunday night and struck a 61-year-old pedestrian who died at the scene, according to the state’s highway patrol.
• Heavy snow in Washington, DC: More than 5 inches of snow had fallen in the area – marking its snowiest day in two years. Federal government offices in Washington were closed Monday due to the weather and will remain shut through Tuesday, the US Office of Personnel Management announced. The closures, however, did not affect Congress, where certification of the 2024 presidential election results took place.
• Drivers stranded: Major highways were shut down by snow and ice in multiple states over the weekend, including Missouri, where at least 1,700 drivers were stranded amid extreme conditions. Hundreds of car crashes occurred in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, The Associated Press reported. More than 100 crashes were reported in Maryland on Monday, according to state police. The National Guard was deployed across major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where hundreds of motorists were stranded, according to the AP. In northwestern Missouri, the State Highway Patrol is “working with tow companies to remove countless stranded vehicles” on I-29, the Missouri Department of Transportation said. The interstate reopened Monday morning, but officials strongly encouraged drivers to stay clear of it.
• Hundreds of thousands without power: More than 300,000 people from Missouri to Virginia were without power at one point Monday, according to PowerOutage.us. Thick ice, snow and gusty winds took down trees and power lines over the weekend. The utility serving Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, does not yet have an estimate of when its more than 20,000 outages can be restored. “It’s definitely a multi-day event here in Kentucky,” LG&E and KU Energy spokesperson Daniel Lowry told CNN. Conditions will remain hazardous conditions for crews trying to restore power.
• Air travel disrupted: More than 2,300 flights within, into and out of the US were canceled as of early Tuesday, according to flight data tracker FlightAware. This comes after more than 1,800 flights met the same fate on Sunday. Near Washington, DC, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport announced it is closing its runways Monday evening to clear snow.
• Record snow: The storm proved prolific in the Central US. More than 20 inches of snow fell in Chapman, Kansas, the storm’s top total. The 14.1 inches of snow in Topeka, Kansas, recorded on Sunday is the third-largest calendar day of snowfall on record, while 11 inches of snow in Kansas City, Missouri, marks the snowiest day on record at the city’s official reporting station.
• It’s not all bad – just ask the pandas: Snowy skies were a welcome change of scenery for a pair of giant pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The newly arrived pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao, took a tumble in their new winter wonderland after about 5 inches of snow blanketed Washington, DC, on Monday, including the panda’s outdoor habitats.
The public will get to see Bao Li and Qing Bao for the first time on January 24.
CNN’s Ethan Cohen, Sarah Dewberry and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.
