Winter Storm Fern Begins Sweeping the U.S., With More Than 180 Million People Under Winter Weather Alerts

On January 23, 2026, a massive winter storm began sweeping across the United States. Freezing rain fell in parts of Texas that day, and National Weather Service watches, warnings and advisories covered much of the country: at least 182 million people were under watches or warnings for ice and snow, and more than 210 million were under cold weather advisories or warnings.

According to the Weather Prediction Center's later review, an arctic front tied to a lobe of the tropospheric polar vortex raced through the Mid-South and the East on the morning of January 23, and by 18Z a strong dome of 1050-millibar high pressure analyzed over western North Dakota was sliding east, locking bitterly cold air over the southern and eastern United States. At the same time, a closed low over Baja California began streaming rich subtropical East Pacific moisture into the southern United States that afternoon, overrunning the frigid surface air in the classic setup for sleet and freezing rain.

Forecasters warned that day that the storm would track from the South into the Northeast, that ice damage in some areas could rival that of a hurricane, and that about a foot of snow was expected from Washington through New York to Boston. Winter weather hazards began late on January 23 in the Southern Rockies and the High Plains, and Texans were already stocking up, emptying supermarket shelves in places such as Corpus Christi.

The storm, later named Fern, would reach its peak impact in the days that followed.

Related: Winter Storm Sweeps Across the U.S.: Over 1.1 Million Customers Lose Power and More Than 9,000 Flights Are Canceled in a Day

Source: National Weather Service

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：2026年1月23日晚，美国德克萨斯州 Corpus Christi 一家 H-E-B 超市的货架在冬季风暴 Fern 到来前被居民买空。Wade C 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Shelves emptied by shoppers at an H-E-B supermarket in Corpus Christi, Texas, on the evening of January 23, 2026, ahead of Winter Storm Fern. Photo by Wade C, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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