A dangerous winter storm hit the central United States on Sunday, January 5. More than 60 million people are in the path of the storm, which will sweep the United States from the Central to the East with arctic air until Monday and cause severe travel disruptions.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned of the risk of ice, snow and strong winds from western Kansas to the coastal states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, over a swath of territory 2 400 kilometers.
The NWS specifies in its latest bulletin to expect “destructive frost and freezing rain”. The agency warned that some regions would experience their “heaviest snowfall in ten years”.
Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe due to human-caused climate change.
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Airports affected by the storm
The first major storm of 2025 has already caused the temporary closure of Kansas City International Airport (Missouri) on Saturday, “due to rapid ice accumulation”. Flights then resumed after runway thawing operations, said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. American Airlines issued an alert to its customers for 45 airports across the country affected by the storm.
Some locations in the states of New York and Pennsylvania, in the east of the country, will face heavy snow from the Great Lakes, which could total 61 centimeters, according to the NWS.
A blizzard is expected across the Central Plains early Sunday, making travel “extremely dangerous, with impassable roads and a high risk of motorists becoming stranded”predicts the NWS.
The US capital, Washington DC, could be covered in a snowpack of 12 centimeters or more, with up to 25 centimeters in surrounding areas. Temperatures are expected to plunge, in some places, to −18°C, with strong gusts of wind worsening the situation.
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The possibility of freezing rain also worries authorities, due to its potential impact on roads and the power grid. A large power outage would have devastating effects for residents who would be without heat in the middle of a winter storm.
The Appalachian massif, already hit by a cataclysmic hurricane at the end of September, is particularly at risk. Severe thunderstorms are also expected in the Lower Mississippi Valley.
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