HEAVIEST SNOW, COLDEST IN DECADE

By 
The Associated Press

What we’re following today:

• Latest forecasts: The eastern two-thirds of the U.S. is experiencing dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills, forecasters said. Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees (7 to 14 degrees Celsius) below normal.
• School closings: Districts in Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas canceling or delaying the start of classes Monday. Among them was Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools, which canceled classes and other school activities for its nearly 100,000 students.
• Dangerous road conditions: As of mid-morning Monday, there were over 250 crashes and 270 reports of vehicles sliding off roadways in Indiana alone. Similar numbers were reported in Virginia.
• Flight delays: The storm has caused thousands of flights to be canceled or delayed, especially around the nation’s capital.

A weather-related power outage has caused a malfunction in the water system of Virginia’s capital city, officials said Monday afternoon.

Richmond officials asked citizens in the city of more than 200,000 people to refrain from drinking tap water or washing dishes and brushing their teeth without boiling the water first. The city also asked residents to conserve their water.

City officials said they’re working around the clock to bring the system back online.

“Our top priority is the health and safety of our residents and neighbors,” Mayor Danny Avula said in a news release.

The Kansas Highway Patrol has reported nearly 200 crashes from Saturday morning through Monday morning, two of them deadly.

On Saturday, a tractor-trailer jackknifed in the ice in the western part of the state, killing a pickup truck’s driver. And two others died Sunday when an SUV rolled down an embankment in Wichita.

Gov. Laura Kelly closed state offices in the Topeka area through Tuesday, and many school districts followed suit.

“Although crews are making progress, the roads remain hazardous,” Kelly said in a news release.

A fatal accident in North Carolina is being blamed on the winter storm that’s moving through the East Coast.

Police in Winston-Salem say a vehicle lost control on an icy overpass along U.S. Route 52 and hit several trees early Monday. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

At least two other people have died in weather-related traffic accidents in Virginia and West Virginia. The accidents were among hundreds reported across Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky.

In Virginia, a 32-year-old man died Sunday night in Wakefield, south of Richmond, after his truck ran off a road and struck a tree. Police said, among other contributing factors, the man was driving too fast for the wintry conditions on the roadway.

In West Virginia, a driver lost control of her vehicle and it struck a concrete median Sunday on Interstate 77 south of Charleston. A tractor-trailer then struck the woman and another vehicle that stopped to help. The driver, Alexis Vega, 25, of Cleveland, Ohio, later died at a hospital. State police Lt. L.T. Goldie Jr. said the weather was a factor in the accident.

The Kansas Department of Transportation says it has reopened the final stretch of Interstate 70 that was closed because of blizzard conditions.

The department said other highways in the state also are reopening, but it urged drivers to go slow and be careful because some stretches remain icy and snow packed.

As the eastern U.S. shivers under a polar vortex, some on the West Coast face a very different weather threat: dry conditions conducive for wildfires.

Winds will whip up and humidity levels will drop in Southern California this week, raising the risk for fires in parched areas still recovering from a recent destructive blaze, forecasters warned Monday.

“Scattered downed trees and power outages are likely, in addition to rapid fire growth and extreme behavior with any fire starts,” the weather service office for Los Angeles said on the social platform X.

Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season.

▶ Read more about weather in California

By SERKAN GURBUZ, Dan Huff

As northern Virginia is being hit by heavy wet snow, residents shovel snow and clean their vehicles. (AP Video: Dan Huff, Serkan Gurbuz)

In a move reminiscent of secret presidential trips to war zones, President Joe Biden’s trip to New Orleans and Los Angeles on Monday began inside a hangar, rather than on the tarmac as is customary, due to the inclement weather.

Air Force One was sheltered from the snow inside a secure hangar at the airbase outside of Washington, as Biden departed during an early afternoon lull in the snowfall.

A Team USA athlete who competed in the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics got to cross-country ski on the National Mall during a rare snowstorm Monday.

Two-time Olympian Clare Egan recently moved to Washington D.C. in 2024 and thought “my skiing days were maybe behind me.”

That was until Washington D.C. was hit with more than 5 inches of heavy, wet snow.

Egan competed in the biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting.

In eastern Kentucky, ice-coated trees downed power lines and blocked roads. During the outage peak, about half of the electric customers in Magoffin County were without power, said Matt Wireman, the county judge-executive.

By midday Monday, about 20% of customers still lacked power, he said.

The winter storm brought chilly misery for airline passengers across the United States on Monday with thousands of flights canceled or delayed, especially around the nation’s capital.

According to tracking platform FlightAware.com, more than 800 flights were canceled or delayed in and out of Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., which saw several inches of snow with more in the forecast as President-elect Donald Trump’s victory was set to be certified.

More than 300 flights were impacted at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

So far, Chicago O’Hare International had 730 flights called off or postponed.

A Kentucky truck stop was jammed with big rigs forced off an icy and snow-covered Interstate 75 on Monday just outside Cincinnati.

“It was too dangerous. I didn’t want to kill myself or anyone else,” said Michael Taylor, a long-haul driver from Los Angeles who was carrying a load of rugs to Macon, Georgia.

He saw numerous cars and trucks stuck in ditches and stopped beneath an overpass to clear ice from his windshield wipers before finally pulling off the interstate. “It was crazy. I know when it’s time to get off the roads,” he said.

By COREY WILLIAMS, BEN FINLEY

By mid-Monday morning, there were 259 crashes and 271 reports of vehicles sliding off roadways statewide in Indiana, according to a post by the Indiana State Police on the social media site X.

The State Police Indianapolis District reported 151 crashes, including 12 with injuries. Troopers also assisted on more than 100 vehicles that were disabled or stuck in the snow.

In Virginia, state police said they responded to 248 crashes in the span of seven hours Monday, although police noted that not all of the accidents may be related to the storm.

A major winter blast of snow, ice, high winds and plunging temperatures are stirring up dangerous conditions across the U.S. central and southern states all the way to the East Coast.

While airlines can’t control the weather, they are required in the U.S. to provide refunds to customers whose flights are canceled. Here’s a few tips for when cancellations start piling up:

• Most airlines will rebook you on a later flight for no additional charge. That depends, however, on the availability of open seats.
• You can ask to be put on another airline, but airlines aren’t required to put you on another carrier’s flight.
• If you no longer want to take the trip, or found another way of getting to your destination, the airline is legally required to refund your money, even if you bought a non-refundable ticket.
• It can help to reach out to airlines’ customer service represenatives on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
• You also can try calling your airline’s international help number — usually available online — since those agents can make changes in your itinerary too.

▶ Read more tips for dealing with flight cancelations

Winter weather brings various hazards that people have to contend with to keep warm and safe. Here’s a few dangers to stay aware of:

1. Carbon monoxide poisoning: Officials say that during a winter storm, people should stay indoors. But home heating systems running for hours can increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning as the deadly fumes can be produced by furnaces, stoves and heaters, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2. Hypothermia: Prolonged exposure to frigid temperatures can put people at risk to hypothermia, a condition that happens when one’s body loses heat faster than it can produce it.

3. Frozen pipes: Frozen pipes in a home during severe winter weather is a particular problem in parts of the South because such equipment is often located outside structures. But other parts of the country also have to deal with this problem.

4. Electric vehicle issues: Inside EV batteries, lithium ions flow through a liquid electrolyte, producing electricity. But they travel more slowly through the electrolyte when it gets cold and don’t release as much energy. That cuts into the range and can deplete a battery faster.

▶ Read more about dangers related to winter weather

The snowy weather in Washington forced a slight change in the travel plans for President Joe Biden.

Biden is heading to New Orleans on Monday to help console victims of the New Year’s Day truck attack.

Biden will drive to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to board Air Force One for the flight. He typically flies directly to the base aboard the Marine One helicopter.

In Texas, the state’s independent grid operator issued a weather warning Monday for residents to be aware of cold temperatures.

Forecasts show major cities like Houston hitting below 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 1 degree Celsius) throughout the week. Grid conditions are expected to remain normal despite the higher demand for electricity and experts don’t foresee any major problems to occur.

President Joe Biden and his team are closely monitoring the severe winter weather across much of the U.S., the White House said in a statement Monday.

White House spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said Biden has directed senior White House Officials to be in close touch with their state and local counterparts in the affected areas. Support will be offered as needed.

“We want to encourage all Americans affected by this weather to take it seriously, continue to monitor forecasts, and heed the warnings of local officials,” Edwards said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear urged residents to stay off the roads Monday as highway crews continued to clear roadways.

“This is a significant snow and ice event, so the roadways are still dangerous,” the governor said.

“A half an inch of ice is very hard to treat, especially when it coats everything,” he said.

Kentucky State Police dispatchers reported more than 170 vehicle accidents and over 280 stranded motorists who were helped, he said.

The thoroughbreds residing at storied Calumet Farm in central Kentucky were riding out the winter storm in the safety of their stalls. The horses were led back to the barns Sunday afternoon before freezing rain turned pastures into a slick glaze of snow and ice.

“The ice is the worst part,” Eddie Kane, the farm manager at Calumet, said Monday. “I still haven’t turned them out because it’s still a little bit too dangerous.

Grain rations are bumped up for the horses amid the cold and they eat as much hay as they want, Kane said.

Marion County Public Health Department offices in Indianapolis were closed Monday due to poor weather. All clinics and walk-in services operated by the health department also are closed. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning Monday for the Indianapolis area, with snow possible, a high temperature near 28 degrees Fahrenheit and wind gusts as high as 32 mph.

An essential travel watch due to snow was declared Sunday night for Wayne County, Richmond and Centerville, all in eastern Indiana. Only essential travel, like driving to and from work or school, essential medical care, and for supplies or shelter, will be permitted on county roads under the declaration, according to the county. Parking on all county roads and their right-of-way is prohibited.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Sunday activated the state’s National Guard to assist state and local responders with support during the winter storm.

In Virginia, state police said in a news release they responded to more than 200 crashes between 4 p.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday, although not all were storm related.

Several accidents included injuries, while one was fatal. A 32-year-old man died around midnight in Wakefield, which is south of Richmond, after his truck ran off the road and struck a tree. Police said he was driving too fast for roadway conditions and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, while alcohol appears to be a factor.

A record 8 inches of snow fell Sunday at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, leading to dozens of flight cancellations that lingered into Monday.

A few more inches of snow was expected Monday across the Cincinnati area, where car and truck crashes Monday morning shutdown at least two major routes leading into downtown.

Starting Monday, the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. will experience dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills, forecasters said. Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees (7 to 14 degrees Celsius) below normal.

In Chicago, temperatures hovered Sunday in the teens (minus 7 to 10 Celsius) and dropped to 11 below (minus 11.7 Celsius) in International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border.

The Northeastern states are more likely to experience several days of cold after a mostly mild start to winter, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Palmer in Gray, Maine.

The cold air likely will grip the eastern U.S. as far south as Georgia with parts of the East Coast experiencing single-digit lows, Palmer said.

The storms caused havoc for the nation’s passenger railways with more than 20 cancellations Sunday and about 40 planned Monday.

“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.

Nearly 200 flights in and out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport were canceled, according to tracking platform FlightAware.

In Indiana, snow fully covered portions of Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and U.S. Route 41, prompting Indiana State Police to plead with motorists to stay off the roads as plows worked to keep up.

Roughly 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow fell in Kansas, with eventual totals predicted to top 14 inches (36 centimeters) for parts of that state and northern Missouri.

In Kentucky, Louisville recorded 7.7 inches (19.5 centimeters) of snow on Sunday, a new record for the date that shattered the previous mark of 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) set in 1910.

The storm was forecast to move into the Ohio Valley and reach the Mid-Atlantic states on Monday, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida. Winds downed trees around the Deep South on Sunday.

Over the weekend, at least 600 motorists were stranded in Missouri, authorities said. Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was hit.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who declared a state emergency, said government buildings would be closed Monday.

“We see far too many wrecks out there for people that do not have to be on the roads, so I want to ask: Stay inside,” Beshear said.

Virginia State Police reported at least 135 crashes as the storm entered the state Sunday. In Charleston, West Virginia, where several inches (centimeters) of snow had fallen by Sunday night, authorities urged motorists to stay home.

School closings are expected to be widespread Monday. Districts in Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky began announcing cancellations and delays on Sunday afternoon. Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools canceled classes, extracurricular activities and athletics for its nearly 100,000 students.

Classes also have been cancelled in Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency Sunday and announced the state government would be closed Monday.

“Keeping Marylanders safe is our top priority. Please stay off the roads during this storm. Prepare your home and family and charge your communications devices in case you lose power,” Moore said in a statement.

A major winter blast of snow, ice, wind and plunging temperatures in the U.S. stirred dangerous travel conditions from central and southern states all the way to the East Coast early Monday, prompting schools and government offices in several states to close.

Snow and ice blanketed major roads across Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the state’s National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. At least 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow was expected, along with gusting winds up to 45 mph (72 kph).

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri all the way to New Jersey.

▶ Read more about the winter weather blast