Winter storm updates: Dozens dead across US in wake of massive snowfall, deep freeze

Storm deaths were reported in the Northeast, the South and the Plains.

Last Updated: January 27, 2026, 4:41 PM EST

A deadly winter storm that brought massive snowfall across the U.S. knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in the South and crippled travel in the Northeast.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Jan 27, 2026, 8:19 AM EST

Federal offices remain closed

As Washington, D.C., digs out from the snow, federal offices will remain closed on Tuesday, as well as the National Zoo and the Smithsonian museums.

Jan 27, 2026, 6:59 AM EST

220 million Americans on alert for extreme cold

Some 220 million Americans are on alert for extreme cold temperatures forecast to follow the weekend's record-breaking winter storm.

The extreme cold warnings and cold weather advisories stretch from Texas and Florida in the South to New York in the Northeast and Detroit in the Midwest.

A woman walks across the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. on Jan. 26, 2026.
Bruce Newman/AP

Cold air is expected to produce another round of lake-effect snow on Tuesday for western Michigan and western New York -- an additional 8 to 16 inches of snow is possible in some areas.

Record low temperatures are possible in the South, where temperatures will feel as low as the 20s and 30s in Florida and the 20s along the Gulf Coast.

Wind chill is expected to drop into single digits on Tuesday in the Northeast, ahead of even lower temperatures later this week. Multiple days of below-zero wind chills are forecast for the Northeast from Wednesday into the weekend.

-ABC News' Melissa Griffin

Jan 27, 2026, 6:35 AM EST

Over 540,000 customers without power

At least 540,363 customers were without power as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us, with Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Kentucky hit the hardest.

At least 173,997 customers were without power in Tennessee, 140,375 customers in Mississippi, 99,614 customers in Louisiana and 28,072 in Kentucky, PowerOutage.us said.

Ice accumulates on utility lines on Jan. 26, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Also without power were 27,920 customers in Texas, 14,132 in South Carolina, 12,984 in Georgia, 10,412 in Virginia, 6,506 in West Virginia and 4,794 in Florida.

The Nashville Electric Service -- which as of Monday was the hardest-hit utility in the country according to PowerOutage.us -- said it planned to "double its workforce" to respond to the outages.

-ABC News' Aidan Gellert and Charlotte Slovin

Jan 26, 2026, 5:06 PM EST

Over 5,100 flights canceled Monday after 11,000 flights canceled Sunday

More than 5,100 flights have already been canceled within, into or out of the U.S on Monday, with flights leaving Dallas, Boston and New York City hit the hardest, according to FlightAware.

Since Friday, more than 20,000 flights have been canceled due to the storm. Over 11,000 flights were canceled on Sunday, marking the highest day for cancellations since the pandemic, according to Cirium data.

While the number of cancellations is significantly lower compared to Sunday, it still remains high as airlines are working to recover and resume normal operations.

Flights resumed Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after the airport stopped all flights Sunday due to the storm.

-ABC News' Ayesha Ali

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