Extreme cold warning issued for over 1 million Americans in the West, upper Midwest

USA Today

11-02-2025

Extreme cold warning issued for over 1 million Americans in the West, upper Midwest
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Winter storm brings ice, snow more to come in Midwest, Northeast
A winter storm swept through the Midwest and Northeast causing ice, snow and rain. Another storm is on the way.
Winter weather continues to pummel a wide swath of the country, with more than a million people in Eastern Montana and the Dakotas under extreme cold warnings Monday and Tuesday.
According to the National Weather Service, wind chills as low as 55 degrees below zero could affect more than a million people in Montana, as well as in North and South Dakota.
Areas of Idaho are also under the same warnings, with the weather service forecasting that some areas could see wind chills of 24 degrees below zero.
'The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 55 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes,' the NWS said in their forecast.
The extreme cold in comes as other regions of the country are expected to see dangerous winter conditions this week.
Here's what to know.
How many people are under cold weather watches?
According to the National Weather Service, over 1 million people are under extreme cold warnings in Montana, North and South Dakota.
A further 18 million are under winter storm warnings across Kansas and Missouri and across Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.
Winter weather wreaks havoc across country
A parade of winter storms may cause chaos across the Midwest and East this week, with two major storms expected to slam the regions with paralyzing snow and ice, including a big blast to the nation's capital.
The first storm will roll through the Midwest on Monday before fueling a blast of snow and ice across the Ohio Valley and the East, from Virginia to New England through Tuesday.
"It's been a disruptive start to February, and this onslaught of winter storms is expected to stick around for most of the month," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.
The second storm expected to develop Tuesday night will roll out of the Front Range of the Rockies and spread to the central Plains on Wednesday before stretching to Mid-Atlantic states, AccuWeather says.
AccuWeather warned that snow and even a period of ice could hit Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo. And there is a chance that the corridor of sleet and freezing rain is more expansive with the second storm, especially across the Mid-Atlantic region and New England.
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Contributing: John Bacon
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [e-mail] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.