{"id":322945,"date":"2026-01-24T10:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322945"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:56:04","slug":"icy-storm-threatens-americans-with-power-outages-extreme-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322945","title":{"rendered":"Icy storm threatens Americans with power outages, extreme cold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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NEW YORK, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Americans stripped supermarket shelves Friday ahead of potentially “catastrophic” winter weather that threatened at least 160 million people across the country with transportation chaos, blackouts and life-threatening cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive storm system was set to drop a mix of freezing rain and heavy snow starting Friday evening on its days-long march across the continental US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storm could bring “catastrophic ice accumulation,” the National Weather Service said, potentially causing “long-duration power outages, extensive tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions,” including in many states less accustomed to intense winter weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After battering the country’s southwest and central areas, the storm system was expected to hit the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and northeastern states — stretching from New Mexico to the Eastern seaboard — before a frigid air mass settles in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 2,700 weekend flights have already been cancelled, according to the tracker Flightaware, including many in and outbound from Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State officials there vow the grid is in better shape than it was five years ago, when it failed during a deadly winter storm and left millions without power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The southern state’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott told journalists the grid “has never been stronger, never been more prepared and is fully capable of handling this winter storm.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Michael Webber, a University of Texas engineering professor, warned ice accumulations would remain “a big risk” across the country — ice could amass and weigh down trees, for example, downing power lines and provoking outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York state, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul warned residents to stay inside amid frigid conditions: “Five or six minutes outside could literally be dangerous for your health.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stressed precautions like protecting pipes, using heaters safely, and checking on vulnerable neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York’s Zohran Mamdani was set to face his first major test as mayor — the city famously makes early judgments of newly elected leaders based on winter storm response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrat Mamdani said remote learning Monday was an option but he was not planning to close schools — even as one student emailed his wife and urged a snow day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School districts elsewhere were preemptively announcing closures. A professional basketball game on Saturday and dozens of collegiate games were rescheduled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in Chicago, a city all-too-familiar with bone-chilling weather, an organization canceled their annual event that sees participants plunge into glacial Lake Michigan for charity (the after-party at a bar was still on.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities warned of life-threatening cold that could last a week post-storm, especially in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, where wind chill lows were forecast to dip to extremes under -50F (-46.6C).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such temperatures can cause frostbite within minutes. One Minnesota television station showed uncensored photos of the serious injury that freezes skin tissues as a warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brutal storm system is the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air spilling across North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions of the polar vortex may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But President Donald Trump — who scoffs at climate change science and has rolled back green energy policies — questioned how the cold front fit into broader climate shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???,” the Republican leader posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State officials were more focused on the immediate threats the powerful storm posed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 16 states and Washington DC declared states of emergency to mobilize disaster response crews and resources, and many municipalities were opening warming shelters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lines snaked out of grocery stores where stock began running thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North of Houston, one supermarket was nearly out of bottled water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Schultz said preparation was key but she wasn’t particularly afraid: “If the power stays on, we should all be fine,” the 68-year-old said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greensboro Police Department in North Carolina meanwhile warned residents to choose wisely when hunkering down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Please remember that whoever you hang out with on Saturday, you’re stuck with until at least Tuesday when the ice melts,” the department quipped on X. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Americans stripped supermarket shelves Friday ahead of potentially “catastrophic” winter weather that threatened at least 160 million people across the country with transportation chaos, blackouts and life-threatening cold. The massive storm system was set to drop a mix of freezing rain and heavy snow starting Friday evening on its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":322946,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322945"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322947,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322945\/revisions\/322947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}