What we're covering
• Sprawling storm: Snow and ice were falling over 1,500 miles from Texas to the Northeast as a massive winter storm peaks.
• In the dark, in the cold: Power outages surged to over 800,000 across the South from damaging amounts of ice amid extreme cold. The numbers were expected to rise throughout the day.
• Big Northeast snow: Heavy snow was falling in the Northeast’s highly populous Interstate-95 corridor with some cities expecting their most snow in years.
• Record cold: More than half of all Americans will experience subzero wind chills in the next week. The extreme cold will lock snow and ice in place and leave those without power shivering for days.
Trump energy secretary issues emergency orders to keep power plants running
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has issued emergency orders to Texas and mid-Atlantic grid operators to bypass pollution limits to keep power plants and backup power systems running throughout the winter storm.
It’s an attempt to keep the lights on, as electrical outages mount around the country. However, many of the outages so far have come from ice-laden trees falling on power lines.
Texas has over 130,000 power outages, according to tracking website PowerOutage.com. The mid-Atlantic region doesn’t have outages yet; the storm has been moving into the region on Sunday.
Wright on Friday asked grid operators to make backup generation available from facilities like data centers. It’s a somewhat untested plan. Although some data centers have their own backup power supplies, they don’t typically distribute power to the grid, and it wasn’t immediately clear how they would do so in an emergency weather situation.
Latest videos
This car in Mississippi is completely covered in a layer of ice on Sunday morning.
Video posted by a power provider in Texas shows exactly the phenomenon we told you about yesterday: galloping power lines.
This Washington D.C. resident brought out the skis to enjoy the snow.
More than 100 flights cancelled as of 8 a.m. on Sunday at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Reporting from Louisville, Kentucky, Meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains how hopes for a record-shattering snowfall have been largely dashed thanks to sleet.
Watch: Heavy snow blankets parts of New Jersey’s shore
Intense, fluffy snow turned parts of New Jersey into a snow globe, with up to 4 inches already on the ground in portions of the state’s shore region by mid-morning.
Ride-share and delivery apps impacted by storm
Ride-share apps and food delivery apps are being impacted by the winter storm. Here’s the latest.
- Lyft said it will largely operate as usual, though it encourages drivers and riders to monitor weather reports. Drivers can cancel rides without penalty fees if they feel unsafe, Lyft said.
- Grubhub says it may pause deliveries in some regions ahead of bad weather or continue to do so “on a rolling basis,” and orders may take longer.
- DoorDash may also suspend or adjust local operations, which could mean only allowing customers to pick-up their orders or others seeing a “Weather Impact Fee” that the company said goes to drivers.
- Uber did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Watch: Cavalcade of snow plows clears road in Philly
This is satisfying to watch. Six staggered snow plows clear this road in the Philadelphia area for a procession of vehicles that follow, almost like a NASCAR pace car.
A couple of inches of snow have fallen in Philadelphia so far.
Watch: Why Louisville’s snowfall fell short
Reporting from Louisville, Kentucky, Meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains how hopes for a record-shattering snowfall have been largely dashed thanks to sleet.
Power pole snapped under weight of ice in Tennessee
Snow is transitioning to sleet in the mid-Atlantic
Goodbye fluffy snow, hello ice pellets.
Snow has mostly transitioned to sleet in parts of West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia this morning and the same mix is starting to creep into the Washington, DC, metro.
Sleet is a type of icy precipitation made up of frozen rain drops, aka ice pellets. A buildup of sleet can eventually look sort of like snow, but it’s much heavier and quite icy. When it accumulates on the already-fallen snow, it becomes quite a mess to clear.
Mississippi advises drivers to stay home due to "extreme icing"
Mississippi residents should stay off highways and bridges due to “extreme icing on significant portions of our transportation system,” Mississippi Department of Transportation executive director Brad White said Sunday.
The department said residents should only to take to the roads for emergency travel and advised everyone else to “stay home and stay safe.”
In Mississippi, about 125,000 customers, or 9% of the state, had power outages as of about 10 a.m. ET, particularly in the northern part of the state, according to PowerOutage.US.
It's extremely cold this morning in nearly every state
Brutal Arctic air has taken hold over a majority of the Lower 48 this morning, with the worst of the cold locked in over the center of the country and creeping into the Northeast.
Parts of every state are reporting temperatures near or below freezing, except Florida.
This kind of cold is hazardous anyway, but add in a storm that’s already knocked out power to more than 750,000 homes and businesses, and it becomes downright deadly.
At least four people were found dead as the cold started to build earlier this weekend: a 19-year-old college student in Michigan and three people in New York City.
US power outages surge past 750,000
Nationwide power outages have surged past 750,000, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.com.
Tennessee is the hardest hit state so far, with over 250,000 outages – followed by Texas with over 135,000, Mississippi with over 120,000 and Louisiana with over 115,000.
Ice weighing down tree branches and causing them to snap is the culprit behind many of the outages in southern states.
Snow totals have reached a half-foot or more in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic
Steady snow has been pushing across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast this morning and now we’re seeing early totals reach a half-foot or more.
The top amount so far is 9.5 inches in Bald Eagle, Pennsylvania, which is in the central portion of the state.
Several locations in Maryland have seen at least 6 inches, led by Damascus with a 6.7 inch total.
Snow has just arrived in southern New England, where some of the storm’s heaviest totals are expected. Parts of the region — including around Boston —could see up to 2 feet of snow by the time the storm ends on Monday.
NYC public schools go remote due to weather
New York City public school buildings will be closed on Monday due to inclement weather, but classes will still be in session for remote learning, the city said in a statement.
The move to remote-learning will impact about 500,000 students across more than 1,100 schools, the city said.
Mamdani had said earlier not to expect a traditional snow day because there is too little room in the school year due to other holidays.
New York City is expected to receive 8 to 12 inches of snow along with freezing rain and sleet later Sunday.
Nashville plagued by power outages; schools closed Monday and Tuesday
Metro Nashville schools will be closed on Monday and Tuesday as Nashville and the surrounding county are seeing major power outages with ice-laden tree branches falling on power lines.
In Davidson County, over 85% of customers are without power, according to PowerOutage.com. Local power utility Nashville Electric’s outage map is currently showing over 169,000 customers without power.
Utility crews have been operating in “extended 14–16‑hour” continuous rotations since Saturday “to ensure we can continue responding to outages quickly,” according to a Nashville Electric statement.
Social media posts from the utilities show tree branches snapping and falling under the weight of ice.
Watch power outages expand over the last 24 hours
The number of homes and businesses across the US that have lost electricity has jumped to nearly 700,000 this morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
See how outages have expanded since Saturday in the video below.
Watch: Drive through Manhattan as snow falls
Watch: Icy power lines "gallop" in Texas
Video posted by a power provider in Texas shows exactly the phenomenon we told you about yesterday: galloping power lines.
The transmission lines start undulating in slow wave-like motions during a winter storm because of ice buildup and sustained winds and can slam into each other and strain power poles and towers, triggering outages.
Uneven ice on a power line changes the wire’s shape. Instead of being round, the cord almost develops little wings made of ice.
Wind flowing over that shape can generate lift, pushing the line upward, just like an airplane. Then gravity pulls it back down, and the cycle repeats.
How much snow and ice has fallen so far (a lot)
Here’s are the top snow totals by region:
• Rockies: 23 inches near Crested Butte, Colorado.
• Plains: 8 inches in north-central Kansas
• South: 8 inches (snow and sleet mixed) just north of Little Rock in Gibson, Arkansas.
• Midwest: 11.4 inches in Oblong, Illinois.
Here are top ice totals from freezing rain in the South:
• Hall Summit, Louisiana: Near three-quarters of inch
• Gallatin, Tennessee: Almost two-thirds of an inch
• Cedar Park, Texas, Inverness, Mississippi, Nashville, Tennessee, and West Monroe, Louisiana: These are just a few of several locations that have seen about a half-inch since Saturday
Photo shows why power outages are soaring in Nashville
This photo shared by Nashville’s main power provider shows exactly why more than 100,000 customers in Nashville’s Davidson County are without power. That’s more than 60% of the customers in the county.
A massive chunk of a tree has been toppled by the weight of the ice, which has been reported to be around a half-inch thick. You can see it frozen into icicles on the power line. The road an sidewalks are also coated in a sheet of ice, like it’s a skating rink.
Branches and bits of trees like this are coming down onto power lines across the city, causing outages to skyrocket.
Traffic camera shows icy scene in Nashville
Traffic cameras at sunrise are giving us a glimpse at the serious icing that happened overnight in Nashville, Tennessee.
This camera on the city’s northeast side shows trees encased in ice. There have been reports of damaged trees in the area.
Almost 90,000 homes and businesses have now lost power in Davidson County, according to poweroutage.us. That’s about half the customers tracked in the county.
