January 24-26, 2026 winter storm: snow and ice from Texas to New England

24–26 January 2026 · More than 20 states from New Mexico to Maine

Named Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel, a private company [7]. The National Weather Service does not name winter storms.

A storm that formed over the Pacific spread snow, sleet and freezing rain across more than 20 states from 24 to 26 January 2026, then Arctic air followed. By 26 January snow covered more than half of the contiguous United States; ice brought down trees and power lines across the South and the Ohio Valley.

What happened

  • Snow covered more than half of the contiguous US by 26 January; Extreme Cold Warnings reached the Mexican border and wind chills fell into the minus 20s and 30s. [1]
  • Southern Indiana and northern Kentucky had 6 to 13 inches of snow and sleet; central and eastern Kentucky had 0.20 to 0.80 inch of ice, and 109 Kentucky counties declared a state of emergency. [2]
  • Freezing rain reached 0.75 inch near Dunbar, West Virginia. [3]
  • Dallas/Fort Worth had 2.4 inches of snow and 58 consecutive hours at or below freezing; its high of 21°F on 25 January was a record low maximum. An estimated 5,859 flights were cancelled at DFW from 23 to 28 January (FAA data cited by the NWS). [4]
  • Central Park measured 11.4 inches and Bridgeport, Connecticut 15.3 inches; NWS New York called it the largest winter storm across much of its area since the storm of 31 January to 2 February 2021 (and, for Long Island, the blizzard of 28-29 January 2022). [5]
  • Lake Michigan added up to about 10 inches in Cook County, Illinois; O'Hare had 4.4 inches. [6]

Deaths

  • NWS Louisville reported one confirmed death from the cold that followed the storm in its area. [2]

Power outages

  • More than 1 million customers initially lost power nationwide, and about 800,000 were still without power on 26 January, worst in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana (NOAA citing PowerOutage data). [1]
  • Outages in the NWS Louisville area peaked around 75,000 on 25 January, mostly from ice. [2]
  • At one point more than 13,000 customers were without power in Kanawha County, West Virginia alone. [3]

States named in the sources used here: Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Mississippi, Louisiana.

Questions

When was the January 24-26, 2026 winter storm?

24–26 January 2026, across: More than 20 states from New Mexico to Maine.

How many people died?

NWS Louisville reported one confirmed death from the cold that followed the storm in its area.

Why is it called Winter Storm Fern?

Fern is a name from The Weather Channel, which has named winter storms each season since 2012-13. The National Weather Service does not name winter storms, so its own summaries describe this storm by date and area.

Sources

  1. NOAA NESDIS: "NOAA Satellites Monitor Massive Winter Storm" (30 January 2026)
  2. NWS Louisville: "Winter Storm January 24-26, 2026"
  3. NWS Charleston, WV: "Summary of the January 24-26, 2026 Winter Storm"
  4. NWS Fort Worth/Dallas: "January 2026 Winter Storm"
  5. NWS New York: "January 25-26, 2026 Major Winter Storm"
  6. NWS Chicago: "January 24-25, 2026 Winter Storm"
  7. The Weather Channel: snow and ice reports, Winter Storm Fern

US government sources are public domain. Figures are quoted as the sources give them; this site has not added to or adjusted them.

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