Winter Storm Wallops the U.S. With Heaviest Snowfall in a Decade, Southern States Brace for Round 2

A powerful winter storm swept through the central United States earlier this week and unleashed snow, ice and high winds. It also left behind dangerously cold temperatures across a wide swath of the U.S.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned some areas experienced the “heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” and those forecasts held true, with more than a foot of snow falling north of Interstate 70.

“For locations in this region that receive the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” the weather service stated.

The storm extended its reach into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states, bringing frigid conditions as far south as Florida. “Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees below normal,” forecasters cautioned, with wind chills creating dangerously cold conditions.

What’s Driving the Winter Storms to Start 2025?

Southern U.S. braced for round two, with ice and snow forecast to fall in Texas and areas of the Southern U.S. The icy storm could impact 20 states.

“Starting back several weeks ago, we drifted into a weather pattern that even though we don’t have La Nina, it is very consistent with what you would expect during La Nina,” says Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist.

Rippey says one of the trademarks of La Nina are the episodic cold outbreaks.

“It just so happens that this time we’ve got a couple of Pacific storm systems riding right along that boundary between the colder air to the north, the warmer air to the south. And that lead system earlier in the week really took advantage of that temperature gradient, cold north, warm south, which is why we saw just about every imaginable weather phenomenon under the sun over a period of a couple of days,” says Rippey.

Rippey says the remainder of January will bring more winter weather and the bursts of cold.

“At least for the time being, we are in a southern storm track and that is going to keep things pretty active for the foreseeable future,” says Rippey.

Enduring the Cold and Snow, Plus a Helping Hand

The ice and snow paralyzed traffic in places, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded along the roads in Kansas and Missouri.

If we know one thing about rural areas, it’s the willingness to help a neighbor in need, and that was on full display this week. One tractor helped push cars that were stranded in the snow.

And there may be an art to pushing snow, but central Missouri farmer Gavin Spoor compared it to a harvesting crew.

Watching the Weather

What’s the forecast for the rest of the week? Check out the latest AgDay weather.