An enormous swath of the U.S. from the Gulf Coast into New England was mired in extra-cold temperatures Sunday after a bomb cyclone introduced heavy snow and a whole bunch of flight cancellations to North Carolina, flurries and falling iguanas in Florida, and extra distress for 1000’s who’re nonetheless with out energy from final weekend’s ice storm within the South.
About 150 million individuals had been below chilly climate advisories and excessive chilly warnings within the jap portion of the U.S., with wind chills close to zero to single digits within the South and the coldest air mass seen in South Florida since December 1989, mentioned Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with climate prediction middle in School Park, Maryland.
A chilly-stunned inexperienced iguana lies on the bottom on Feb. 01, 2026, in Miami Seaside, Florida. The cold-blooded creatures fall from bushes when temperatures get too low. South Florida reached the mid-30s in a single day as an arctic chill moved by way of the world.
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The Tampa-St. Petersburg space in Florida noticed snow flurries and temperatures within the 20s within the Panhandle and 30s in South Florida on Sunday morning, Mullinax mentioned. That left cold-stunned iguanas mendacity prostrate and immobile on the bottom. Iguanas in South Florida go dormant within the chilly and although they often wake when temperatures heat, the reptiles can die after greater than a day of maximum chilly.
The chilly additionally left ice on strawberries and oranges within the state. Farmers in Florida generally spray water on fruit bushes and berry vegetation to guard them from the chilly.
In the meantime, the bomb cyclone, recognized to meteorologists as an intense, quickly strengthening climate system, contributed to just about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in and round Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest metropolis. The snowfall represented a top-five snow occasion all time there, Mullinax mentioned.
In jap North Carolina, James Metropolis recorded 18 inches (45 centimeters) of snow, whereas Swansboro recorded 17 inches (43 centimeters), the Nationwide Climate Service reported.
Flight cancellations exceeded 2,800 within the U.S. on Saturday, with one other 1,500 on Sunday, based on FlightAware, a flight monitoring and knowledge firm. About 800 of these Sunday cancellations had been for flights departing or arriving at Charlotte Douglas Worldwide Airport.
The storm precipitated an hours-long mess on Interstate 85 northeast of the town, after a crash left dozens of semitractors and different automobiles backed up into the night, based on the State Freeway Patrol. Greater than 1,000 site visitors collisions and two street deaths had been reported, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein mentioned Sunday.
“It is a formidable chilly shot, for positive, and there are day by day information which might be being seen down within the South,” Mullinax mentioned.
Snow covers Charlotte throughout winter storm Gianna, as bomb cyclone brings heavy snow in Charlotte N.C., on Jan. 31, 2026
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Snow blanketed the neighborhood of Lee Harrison, an insurance coverage agent in a city exterior of Greenville, North Carolina, and he deliberate to take his three daughters sledding within the yard.
“We’re not gonna drive anyplace,” Harrison mentioned. “It is thick sufficient that I’d not really feel comfy driving with our household.”
Additionally in North Carolina, officers mentioned an unoccupied beachfront home within the Buxton neighborhood on Cape Hatteras collapsed in heavy surf Sunday.
Greater than 110 deaths linked to the wintry climate and storms have been reported across the U.S. since late January. In Tennessee and Mississippi, two states struck final weekend by a storm carrying snow and ice, greater than 97,000 clients had been nonetheless with out electrical energy on Sunday, based on the outage monitoring web site poweroutage.us. One other 29,000 did not have energy on Sunday in Florida.
Nashville Electrical Service mentioned it expects 90% of its clients to have energy restored Tuesday, with 99% getting electrical energy again by subsequent Sunday, two weeks after the ice and snowstorm hit.
Gov. Invoice Lee mentioned he shared “robust issues” with management of the utility, which has defended its response and mentioned the storm was unprecedented.
Mississippi officers mentioned it was the state’s worst winter storm since 1994. About 80 warming facilities had been opened and Nationwide Guard troops delivered provides by truck and helicopter.
Mullinax mentioned elements of the Carolinas are going to be “digging out” for a number of days as they take care of gusty winds and bitterly chilly wind chills. Heading into Tuesday and Wednesday, gentle snow might fall within the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic, from Washington D.C. and presumably into New York Metropolis, he mentioned.
