A sprawling winter storm is expected in the U.S. this weekend, and nearly half of the U.S. population could be affected. This map shows winter storm watches issued as of Jan. 22, 2026, and more are expected on the East Coast.
NOAA
The number of counties and states under winter storm watches Thursday morning is stunning. I do not recall seeing a winter storm footprint this massive since the 1993 “Storm of the Century,” and many of the counties in the Mid-Atlantic region had not yet been included at the time of publication. They will be, however, in the coming hours. Here are three surprising facts about this massive weekend winter storm.
1. It’s Shaping Up To Be A Historic Storm
This is one of the most widespread and significant winter storms that weather expert Jason Furtado has seen in some time, the meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma told NPR. At Weather.com, Rob Shackelford and Jonathan Erdman noted that the storm could affect 33 states and 180 million people. That’s roughly half the entire U.S. population, y’all.
By comparison, the 1993 Storm of the Century caused $2 billion in property damage and affected 22 eastern U.S. states, according to the National Weather Service. The storm also resulted in over 200 direct or indirect fatalities.
Weather map depicting the 1993 “Storm of the Century”
NOAA2. It Will Likely Be A Long-Duration, High-Impact Event
Once the storm starts to get its act together, it’s expected to be a sprawling, long-duration event. Heavy snow is expected from the Southern Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic region. Washington, D.C., could see one of its largest snowfall totals in recent years. It would not surprise me to see over a foot of snow in some areas across the massive swath with this storm.
For those of us in the Deep South, widespread freezing rain and sleet is the concern. That’s never a good forecast because ice can be so crippling to the transportation network, power grid and trees. The Lower Mississippi Valley, Tennessee Valley, Southeast and parts of southern Virginia are most likely to deal with tree damage, power outages and treacherous travel conditions.
I’m also paying attention to the wind. Here in North Georgia, we could see wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour. That’s never a good mix with rain or icy conditions.
Key messages from the National Weather Service about the looming storm
NOAA and NWS3. Hurricane Hunters Are Flying Into The Storm
Because the storm has such high-impact potential, hurricane hunters flew into the emerging storm off the coast of California yesterday. The data they collected will help improve analyses and forecasts of the storm at locations far away from California. Though not perfect, here is an analogy: Like water, the atmosphere is a fluid. Weather models predict how this fluid changes, so getting more data days in advance can be helpful for one- to five-day forecasts.
Let’s say someone throws a rock thrown into a pond. I can determine some things about the waves rippling away if I know how hard he threw the rock, at what angle, the depth of the water and the pond width.
The hurricane hunters’ mission was a part of an ongoing effort to understand the role of atmospheric rivers in our weather processes.
In this photo taken Friday, May 12, 2017, a USAF Reserve WC-130J hurricane hunter aircraft is shown at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Miami, as reporters and guests take a firsthand tour of the aircraft, at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, in Opa-locka, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Richard Henning, a retired air force officer and former hurricane hunter with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noted that the higher-altitude NOAA G-IV planes were also flying missions to collect information in the Gulf.
“All the global models now assimilate these high-altitude dropsondes,” he told me. “The USAF WC-130s provide data from around 300 millibars down to the surface and the NOAA G-IV from 150 millibars to splash.”
Dropsondes from the airplanes essentially provide similar information as weather balloons but in the opposite direction. That information can improve accuracy of initial conditions and downstream forecasts in the model.
Flight track for the NOAA hurricane hunters flying into the storm
Richard Henning and National Winter Season Operations Plan (NWSOP)