Northeast snow droughts end as Arctic blast brings record cold and frostbite-inducing wind chills

A brutal Arctic blast is bringing record-low temperatures and life-threatening wind chills across a large swath of the United States as snow and ice spread from the South to New England and a new storm targets the Northwest with dangerous ice. Here’s the latest:

• Record snowless streaks end: Enough snow fell in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC, to end nearly 2-year-long waits for an inch of snow there. The cities all recorded at least an inch of snow in 24 hours, something that hadn’t been done in more than 700 days in all the locations. The streaks were record-long in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and the DC area’s Dulles International Airport.

• Record-breaking cold temperatures: Nearly 80% of the US will see below-freezing temperatures over the next week as another shot of cold air spreads across the country by late week. Numerous daily cold records have already been set – including across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. It snowed as far south as Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, on Tuesday morning, and while there was no accumulation, both cities reported rare snowfall for a few hours. Hard freeze warnings are expected Tuesday evening for much of the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida. Temperatures in Memphis, Dallas and Nashville are expected to stay below freezing for at least 72 consecutive hours.

• Frostbite can happen in minutes: Much of the Rockies, Great Plains and Midwest will see life-threatening sub-zero wind chills into Wednesday, with wind chills as low as minus 30 degrees over the Northern Plains. “These wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in a few minutes and hypothermia shortly thereafter,” the National Weather Service warned.

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People walk in New York's Central Park on Tuesday, January 16. Enough snow fell in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC, to end nearly two-year-long waits for an inch of snow there.

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Icicles hang from limestone along Interstate 65 in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 16.

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A worker spreads a composite of ice melter and salt on sidewalks at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson on January 16.

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A snow-covered school bus sits in a parking lot in Wheeling, Illinois on January 16. School districts in more than half a dozen states announced closures amid frigid temperatures.

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People pass through a snowy Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC, on Monday, January 15.

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Isaac Hammond braves subzero temperatures to caucus in Malcolm, Iowa, on January 15. Monday's caucuses were the coldest ever, with high temperatures below zero across much of the state.

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A family waits for their delayed flight at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, on January 15. Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed.

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Snow and ice surround the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines on January 15.

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Daniel Cole uses a plastic spoon to clear ice from his vehicle in Florence, Alabama, on January 15.

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Crews work to de-ice an airplane at Denver International Airport on January 15.

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Workers remove snow from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, on Sunday, January 14. The NFL playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers was pushed back a day due to dangerous blizzard conditions.

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A wrecked tractor-trailer is seen on the eastbound side of Interstate 80 near Williamsburg, Iowa, on January 14.

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A person clears a sidewalk in front of condominiums in Worthington, Ohio, on January 14.

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Cows graze through the snow in Atlantic, Iowa, on Saturday, January 13.

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Water from the Hudson River overflows at high tide as a woman jogs in Jersey City, New Jersey, on January 13.

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Snow and ice dust a worker who was removing snow from a sidewalk in Des Moines on January 13.

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Storm waves batter coastal homes in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on January 13.

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Travelers check their flight status at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, on Friday, January 12. More than 2,000 flights were canceled nationwide because of the winter storm.

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Workers shovel sidewalks in Ankeny, Iowa, on January 12. The vast majority of Iowa was under a blizzard warning.

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Vehicles slowly make their way along Northwestern Highway in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on January 12.

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Rebecca Zimmerman walks beside her bicycle on her way to work in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 12.

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Snow falls on January 12 as migrants in Chicago continue to be housed by the city in "warming" buses.

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Snow piles up outside Drake University's Olmsted Center ahead of CNN's Republican presidential debate in Des Moines on Wednesday, January 10.

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A man looks over a heavily damaged oak-barrel factory in Bamberg, South Carolina, on January 10, a day after a tornado struck the city.

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An employee of the Storm Bros. Ice Cream begins to clean up January 10 after the storm left more than 2 feet of water inside many businesses in downtown Annapolis, Maryland.

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Kelly-Jo St. Aubin clears snow from the sidewalk outside her home in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, on January 9.

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Firefighters rescue a man after his car was stuck in a flooded area in Charlotte, North Carolina, on January 9.

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Because of the storm, nearly 2,000 migrants in Brooklyn, New York, were evacuated from tents at Floyd Bennett Field and taken to a local high school on January 9.

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A pedestrian navigates a snow-covered sidewalk in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 9.

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A house is damaged in Panama City Beach, Florida, on January 9. Responders rescued people from structures in Florida's Bay County, where multiple tornadoes hit the ground and caused significant damage and road closures, Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said.

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Linda Cox looks at her two vehicles that were damaged by a fallen tree in Myrtle Grove, Florida.

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Snow covers the trees around the Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary in Hubertus, Wisconsin, on January 9.

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People in Des Moines help push a vehicle back onto the road after it became stuck in the snow on January 9.

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Tornado wreckage is seen in Bay County, Florida, on January 9. Twelve tornadoes were reported across Florida, Alabama and Georgia that morning.

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Workers Brian Henderson and Josko Huljev fill sandbags for residents of Totowa, New Jersey, on January 9. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced a state of emergency to prepare for the potentially dangerous weather.

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Flooding is seen at an intersection in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on January 9.

• At least five deaths across several states: Deaths have been reported across Arkansas, Oregon, Mississippi and Tennessee since January 12 as back-to-back winter storms have pummeled the US with dangerous wind, ice and snow. One person was killed and another was injured in Arkansas after their pickup truck careened off a snowy White County highway and hit a tree, according to state police.

 • Icy roads make travel dangerous: Wintry conditions were reported on roads in at least a half-dozen southern states Tuesday morning. Crashes on a slick I-10 in southern Louisiana closed an expansive stretch of the highway in both directions Tuesday morning. Transportation departments across the region urged people to stay home and off roads as they tried to combat the conditions. “Hundreds” of travel incidents unfolded on Tennessee roads Monday, the state’s DOT said.

• 10,000 flights cancelled: The transportation toll from a hyperactive stretch of winter weather goes beyond roads. More than 10,000 flights have been cancelled since Friday, FlightAware data shows. Most cancellations Tuesday were in the East because of the active storm, but the flight issues stretch as far west as Denver.

• Schools and government offices are closed: School districts in more than half a dozen states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia announced closures amid the frigid temperatures. Federal government offices closed in Washington, DC, for the first time since Jan. 7, 2022 because of the weather

Snow and freezing rain sweep into Northeast

As dangerously cold temperatures continue across much of the US – with more than 95 million people in 35-plus states under winter weather alerts – snow and freezing rain over the South spread into the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and New England through Tuesday.

Downwind of the Great Lakes, heavy lake effect snowfall is expected to stir up some significant travel headaches. Lake Effect snow happens when cold air moves across the open, unfrozen waters of the Great Lakes, creating narrow bands that produce 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour or more.

Buffalo, New York, is under a lake effect snow warning from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday evening, with heavy lake effect snowfall of 1 to 3 feet and gusts to 40 mph possible. Watertown, also under a winter storm watch through early Friday, could see heavy lake effect snowfall of 2 to 3 feet possible.

“Travel could be very difficult to impossible. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility,” the National Weather Service office in Buffalo warned. “The hazardous conditions could impact the Wednesday morning and evening commute.”

Chicago scrambles to shelter migrants in dangerous cold as Texas’ governor refuses to stop drop-offs

This region had just received over 3 feet of snowfall from a previous round of very heavy lake effect snowfall.