Frigid Air and Winter Storm Fern Disrupt Travel Across the U.S.
A significant disruption of the Polar Vortex has led to Winter Storm Fern, impacting approximately 200 million people from Texas through New York and Boston. The storm is bringing deep snow, dangerous ice, and the potential for widespread travel chaos.
As of , February 5, 2026, a frigid air mass is settling over the eastern United States. Satellite imagery, as shared on January 22, 2026, clearly shows the extent of the cold air. Further south, the pattern has reversed, with frigid Arctic air dropping through Florida, according to reports from January 26, 2026.
Winter Storm Fern has developed into a large frontal system, triggering the most extensive Winter Storm Warnings seen in nearly two decades. A massive corridor of deep snow is forecast to bury cities from Oklahoma City to Boston, with the Northeast bracing for 15 to 30 inches of snow by Monday evening. Specifically, snowfall amounts of 15-30 inches have already occurred along the core of the storm’s center, spreading from central Oklahoma across the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S.
The highest snow accumulations are reported from southern Illinois and Indiana to Ohio and New York state, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. New York City has received 12-15 inches of snow, while up to 20 inches has accumulated across Rhode Island and Boston.
Further south, a dangerous ice storm is forecast to glaze up to an inch and a half across a 1,800-mile stretch from the heart of Texas to the Virginia coast. A significant black ice accumulation of 0.75 to 1 inch has already formed along a broad corridor from San Antonio, TX, across Jackson, MS, to Nashville, TN.
The intensity of the snowfall and major ice storm threatens to paralyze the nation, rendering de-icing and plowing efforts across hundreds of airports ineffective. This represents likely to cause historic flight cancellations and widespread power outages over the weekend.
The cloud patterns associated with the storm are also notable. “Cloud streets,” or horizontal convective rolls, are forming as cold, dry air flows over the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean near Florida. These parallel lines of clouds are created when rising air cools and condenses, then rolls over due to a layer of warmer air above.
