Considered by meteorologists as one of the worst winter episodes in recent decades in the United States, the storm caused heavy snowfall and ice accumulations with potentially “catastrophic” consequences, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The entity warned that the population will face similar conditions on Monday morning, and that the icy conditions will continue for several days.
In the state of Texas, authorities confirmed three deaths, including a 16-year-old girl who died in a sledding accident.
Two other people died of hypothermia in Louisiana, according to the state Department of Health.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani reported that five people were found dead outdoors this weekend amid frigid temperatures.
Although he did not confirm that the deaths were weather-related, he told reporters: “There is no more powerful reminder of the danger of extreme cold.”
“Snow/sleet impacts will persist well into next week, with rounds of refreezing keeping surfaces icy and hazardous for both driving and walking,” the NWS said.
The PowerOutage.us monitoring site showed more than 840,000 customers without power Sunday night, mainly in the south of the country, where the storm began on Saturday.
In Tennessee, where ice brought down power lines, more than 300,000 residential and commercial customers were without power. Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia — where such storms are less common — each recorded more than 100,000 outages.
The outages are particularly dangerous as the south is being hit by unusual cold that could break records, according to authorities.
Tens of thousands of homes were also affected in Kentucky (central-east) and Georgia (southeast).
Authorities from Texas to North Carolina and New York urged residents to stay home due to dangerous conditions.
Snowfall was also reported throughout the central United States, including Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, where some places already recorded 20 centimeters of accumulated snow on Saturday night, the NWS said.
At least 20 states and the capital, Washington, declared a state of emergency.
Canceled flights and empty supermarkets
President Donald Trump, who was facing the storm in the White House, said Saturday on his Truth Social platform: “We will continue to monitor and maintain contact with all states in the path of this storm. “Stay safe and stay warm!”
Federal offices will be closed preventively on Monday.
Airports in Washington, Philadelphia and New York had nearly all flights canceled for the day.
More than 19,000 flights to and from the United States were canceled over the weekend, and thousands more suffered delays, according to the specialized site FlightAware. In addition, almost 2,500 flights have already been canceled for Monday.
The NWS warned that the ice could cause “long-lasting power outages, tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions.”
Many supermarkets had empty shelves due to the weather forecasts.
The storm, described as “unusually extensive and long-lived” by the NWS, is caused by the arrival of an arctic air mass from Canada.
Trump, a climate change skeptic, took advantage of the storm to make a comment along these lines: “Please: WHAT HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING?” he wrote in Truth Social.
Scientists note that disruptions of the polar vortex, which send these Arctic air masses toward the rest of North America, have become more frequent over the past 20 years.
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