1 of 3 | Trucks and cars are stuck in deep snow on interstate 264 from the first winter storm of 2025 with snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain hitting the region on Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky. A winter storm warning is in effect through 7 p.m. Monday as the storm could bring upwards of 8 inches of snow along with significant ice accumulation that could cause widespread and prolonged power outages across the commonwealth. Photo by John Sommers II/UPI |
License PhotoJan. 5 (UPI) — The new year is ushering in a major winter storm across a wide swath of the United States, blasting large regions of the country with heavy snow and dangerous ice. More than 60 million people in 30 states are under winter weather warnings.
More than 4 million people are under blizzard warnings through Sunday night in parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri, according to a customizable online map posted by the National Weather Service.
Travel conditions in parts of the heartland, including Kansas, Kentucky and Indiana were treacherous.
The National Weather Service has warned of “considerable disruptions to daily life,” including “dangerous or impossible driving conditions and widespread closures,” making travel “very difficult to impossible” throughout the day. The NWS lists all of the weather alerts for the country.
Nearly 1,500 flights have been canceled into or out of the United States, according to the tracking website FlightAware.
Kansas City International Airport and St. Louis Lambert International Airport reported the highest number of weather-related cancellations.
“This is going to be one of the most historic, significant storms Kansas City has ever seen,” City Manager Brian Platt said,
FlightAware also reported more than 25,000 weather-related flight delays, adding to the travel chaos caused by the winter storm.
All inbound and outbound flights at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky have been canceled, according to the airport’s website.
Several arterial route Amtrak trains in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as some long distance trains, have been canceled, a dozen of them in the Midwest alone.
“If local authorities are telling people not to travel, it’s counterintuitive to try to run a full slate of services when people are being told to stay home,” Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said. “Likewise, we know our people are going to have trouble getting in to work.”
Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia are among the major cities preparing for snowy and icy conditions Sunday into Monday, with parts of Virginia expecting as much as a foot of snow.
Officials announced on social media that schools in Washington, D.C., will be closed Monday.
Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are facing thunderstorms and severe cold, temperatures residents are not accustomed to in some places in the south. Parts of Mississippi were under a tornado warning for parts of the day Sunday.
Six states have declared states of emergency and warn of the impending coldest temperatures to blast the region in at least a decade: Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Nearly 80,000 utility customers were without power across the South and Midwest as of 4 p.m. Sunday, according to Poweroutage.US. About 30,000 of them were in Missouri, 18,000 in Texas, and 10,555 customers in Louisiana, Kentucky and Illinois were without power.
House Speaker Mike Johnson implored his congressional colleagues not to leave town lest they not be able to get back due to a snow storm, which would leave Congress with too few lawmakers to certify the presidential election of Donald Trump on Monday.
“We got a big snowstorm coming to D.C., and we encourage all of our colleagues, do not leave town, stay here, because, as you know, the Electoral Count Act requires this on Jan. 6, at 1 p.m., so whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we’re going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” Johnson said.
As of Sunday evening, no deaths had been officially reported as a result of the severe winter weather.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
