- - Storms slam eastern U.S. with snow, snarling holiday weekend travel

Mirna Alsharif January 17, 2026 at 1:27 PM

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Millions of Americans were facing messy travel conditions over the holiday weekend, with snow, gusty winds and bitter cold snarling flights and roads across the eastern half of the country.

An estimated 4,095 U.S. flights were delayed Saturday as winter weather is spreading overnight from the Dakotas to Maine and from the Florida Panhandle to the urban Northeast.

In addition to the delayed flights, 110 other flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.com. Temporary ground stops were issued Saturday for John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey due to concerns over snow, ice and other issues, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Overnight ground stops were possible at a number of big-city airports, including the main passenger airports in Boston and Philadelphia, as well as at LaGuardia and Newark, the FAA said. The New York Air Route Traffic Control Center may also shut down some ocean routes overnight out of concern for rough skies, it said.

Forecasters said three winter systems are the culprits producing snow, ice, rain and cold in the eastern half of the country this weekend. They include a brewing front off the Gulf Coast that will stretch northward into the mid-Atlantic, and two moving west-to-east and tapping Arctic air to bring down temperatures in the Midwest and New England.

One of those is a clipper system, defined as a storm that drops down from Central Canada to the Great Lakes and Northeast in a fast, cold strike, according to the National Weather Service.

Roughly 55 million people were under winter weather alerts.

Lake-effect snow is targeting areas downwind of lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario, where 5 to 10 inches of accumulation is possible through the weekend. Alerts are scattered over parts of the Northeast and the Appalachian Mountains, including Poughkeepsie, Portland, Concord and Lancaster in New York, where 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible.

Along the busy Interstate 95 corridor, a dusting of up to 2 inches is forecast from Washington, D.C., to New York City, and up to 3 inches is likely in the Boston area.

Incoming rain in the Southeast is expected to switch to snow by Sunday morning, and snow flurries could fall as far south as Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

National Weather Service forecasters in Peachtree City, Georgia, said their confidence in snow for central Georgia and the suburbs south of Atlanta on Sunday was growing. One to 3 inches of snow are expected across parts of north and central Georgia, the weather service said.

Snow showers moved over parts of the Great Lakes, Appalachians, the Northeast and parts of New England on Saturday night, National Weather Service weather radar showed. That snow and rain was expected to taper off overnight.

Parts of northern New Jersey were buried in a thick white blanket of snow Saturday morning, making travel difficult. In New York City, residents woke up to heavy snow falling outside their windows, creating a whiteout effect across the city.

In a statement, officials said parts of New York City could receive 1 to 4 inches of snow Sunday and that a winter weather advisory would be in effect from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens could see the worst of it, New York City Emergency Management said in a statement.

"If you can, stay off the roads," Mayor Zohran Mamdani told residents in a video address Saturday night. The mayor added that a "code blue" was in effect, meaning outreach workers would be out to connect vulnerable people to shelter.

In Collegeville, Pennsylvania, video showed snow flurries covering the ground, trees and structures, leaving room for few other colors besides white on Saturday. Other video showed heavy snow blanketing homes in Berks County.

Snow totals reported Saturday evening included 6.5 inches in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, and 5 inches in Beacon, New York.

Snow showers will pick up in intensity over New England Sunday night into Monday morning before dissipating by the midmorning hours.

Arctic temperatures

Dangerous cold is gripping the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Cold weather alerts were in effect for parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Montana, where wind chills could plunge as low as 35 degrees below zero.

Temperatures across much of the Great Plains and Midwest will run 10 to 20 degrees below average, with highs in the single digits and teens.

A dangerously cold night is also expected throughout the Northern Tier, with overnight wind chills as low as 25 below zero in parts of the Upper Midwest. Due to the strong wind gusts, it could feel as cold as the single digits, teens or 20s across the eastern half of the country. Despite these cold temperatures, no record lows are anticipated.

Highs will stay 10 to 20 degrees below average east of the Rocky Mountains through Tuesday.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”