Heavy snow, sleet and damaging ice stretched from the South to New England as outages topped 1 million and thousands of flights were canceled.
ATLANTA, GA — A vast winter storm pushed across the United States on Sunday into Monday, icing roads, snapping trees and knocking out electricity to large sections of the South and Mid-Atlantic while piling deep snow in the Ohio Valley and Northeast. Airlines canceled thousands of flights as officials warned that treacherous conditions would linger into Monday.
The system, dubbed Winter Storm Fern by private forecasters, cut power to more than a million homes and businesses at its peak and forced states of emergency across a broad swath of the country. Federal officials approved emergency declarations for a dozen states as crews worked through the night to restore electricity and clear debris. With temperatures staying below freezing in many areas, the immediate concern was black ice, falling limbs and additional outages as winds persisted. Rail and highway agencies urged people to stay off roads and let plows and utility trucks operate.
By Sunday night, utilities reported more than 847,000 customers still without power, down from a peak above 950,000 earlier in the day. Tennessee and parts of the Carolinas were among the hardest hit by ice that coated lines and trees. “NES lineworkers will continue overnight and we will not stop until power is back on for all customers,” Nashville Electric Service said. Airlines scrubbed more than 11,000 flights Sunday as conditions deteriorated from Atlanta to Boston, and carriers issued waivers to allow travelers to rebook. The National Weather Service said a combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow created “dangerous travel” in the Southeast, with heavier snowfall spreading north as the storm advanced.
Officials across multiple states said damage assessments are ongoing and warned the toll could rise. Governors in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and others declared emergencies to unlock equipment and funding. In New York City, local officials reported multiple weather-related deaths as temperatures plunged. Power grid operators in the Mid-Atlantic noted a sharp spike in demand during the cold blast. Airlines and airport operators said deicing crews were working around the clock, but runway visibility and crosswinds forced rolling ground stops at times. Delta Air Lines said it was running a reduced schedule while monitoring its Atlanta hub and Northeast airports.
Sunday’s weather map showed winter storm or ice storm warnings covering parts of 30-plus states, from the southern Plains through the Ohio Valley and into New England. The Weather Prediction Center said ice accretions up to a half-inch were possible in sections of Georgia and the Carolinas, a level that can bring down branches and cause extended outages. Farther north, heavy, wet snow spread into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, with totals exceeding a foot in pockets of Connecticut, New Jersey and western Pennsylvania. Plow drivers contended with blinding bands and stuck vehicles on interstates. Transportation departments reported jackknifed tractor-trailers on key corridors including I-40, I-75 and I-95, forcing temporary closures while troopers and wreckers cleared lanes.
Context added to the urgency. Many southern areas that saw the worst icing rarely experience long-duration freezing rain, leaving trees and older distribution lines vulnerable. Local emergency managers described widespread treefall in neighborhoods outside Nashville and across northern Mississippi. In the Carolinas, utility maps showed dense clusters of outages where wind gusts compounded ice load on lines. In the Mid-Atlantic, demand spikes in data center hubs stressed local feeders even as generation stayed online, according to grid updates. For airports, the scale of cancellations rivaled some of the worst weather days since 2020, complicating crew positioning and aircraft routing ahead of the Monday morning rush.
Procedurally, federal emergency declarations opened the door for debris removal and reimbursement for overtime and equipment. State emergency operations centers moved to 24-hour staffing through at least Monday. Briefings were scheduled through the day in Atlanta, Raleigh and Nashville to update restoration timelines. Airlines extended travel waivers into Monday night for several hubs, and rail agencies in the Northeast warned of reduced service on Monday. Municipal leaders said they would decide school operations on a district-by-district basis, with some large systems planning remote learning on Monday while road crews clear secondary streets. Utility companies cautioned that full restoration could take days in neighborhoods with the heaviest tree damage.
Street-level scenes underscored the storm’s reach. In the Nashville area, ice glazed mailboxes and sidewalks while the pop of snapping branches echoed through quiet subdivisions. On the Georgia mountain front, power crews navigated narrow, icy roads to reach downed lines. Travelers at Philadelphia International watched departure boards fill with cancellations as plows circled the runways. “The situation is expected to get worse before it gets better,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said earlier Sunday, urging residents to keep vehicles off icy roads while crews worked. Transit officials in New Jersey said buses and some rail lines paused operations Sunday afternoon to keep equipment clear of snow and ice.
As of early Monday, forecasters said snow would taper from the Mid-Atlantic into New England while subfreezing temperatures preserve ice in the South. Utilities reported steady, though uneven, progress on restoration. Airlines planned a gradual ramp-up, contingent on runway conditions and crew availability. Additional briefings are set for Monday afternoon, with the next major update on outages and travel expected by 6 p.m. ET.
Author note: Last updated January 26, 2026.