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Key events
Winter storm Fern triggered a buying frenzy across much of the US ahead of its arrival.
Practically empty shelves were seen in grocery stores across the country on Thursday and Friday, mirroring images of shoppers mass-buying supplies at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic during the first few months of 2020.
Dharna Noor
This storm has the potential to bring long-lasting power outages, with those blackouts likely to be politicized.
When the deadly winter storm Uri struck Texas in 2021, it left millions without power as the state’s grid collapsed under surging demand. Republican politicians and fossil fuel allies were quick to blame clean energy for the disaster. But though the storm wreaked havoc on all energy sources, widespread evidence (including a federal investigation) showed that the outages were primarily caused by failing gas infrastructure.
Experts have long warned that the climate crisis is already making power outages in the US more common as climate-fueled extreme weather pushes an already heavily burdened energy grid to its limit. It’s a problem sparking even more concern as fuel-guzzling data centers pop up across the US.
Wind and solar power, the quickest-to-deploy energy sources, could help ensure Americans have consistent power amid that increasing demand. But climate hawks may be quick to note during forthcoming blackouts, Trump has been blocking renewable energy projects, calling them a “scam.”
Power outages across the country have already surged to nearly 85,000, according to PowerOutage.us.
Texas is reporting by far the largest number of outages with more than 43,000 homes and businesses affected.
Outages in Louisiana have risen to more than 6,000. Arkansas just surpassed 5,000 outages.
All other affected states are still reporting fewer than 4,000 buildings without power.
So far, nearly 10,000 flights across the US set to take off over the weekend have been canceled.
Delta Air Lines urged passengers traveling this weekend to reschedule their flights as the storm threatened to disrupt operations and force widespread cancellations.
The airline said customers should expect flight cancellations across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, including in Nashville and Raleigh-Durham, as the storm threatens to disrupt weekend travel. They added that they expect “additional schedule adjustments for Atlanta and the north-east regions” on Saturday morning.
On Thursday, Delta canceled flights at several airports in five states, warning that slow operations could trigger more delays and cancellations and complicate rebooking during one of the busiest winter travel periods.
Airlines are encouraging passengers to keep a close watch over their flight status and use mobile apps or airline websites for the quickest rebooking options as the storm advances.
This morning, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “I have approved Emergency Declarations for the Historic Winter Storms headed to the Great State of South Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia. With the help of FEMA and our State partners, we will keep everyone safe, and make sure both States have the support they need. We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm!”
On Friday morning, Trump had posted: “Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before. Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain – WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???”
In reality, the climate crisis is causing more instability in weather systems and patterns, disrupting the polar vortex and bringing more extremes amid rapidly rising global temperatures. Arctic temperatures are more frequently and persistently sweeping across parts of the US not accustomed to prolonged severe cold weather.
Trump has long been a climate crisis skeptic and has been consistently pulling the US back from domestic climate action and international treaties to curb global heating driven by human-caused emissions, while spinning inaccurate information.
States of emergency have been announced in 16 states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Emergency declarations were also made in Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
New York added itself to the list later on Friday, as did Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky. Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC, has declared a state of emergency in the district.
Hello, and welcome to our live blog coverage of the winter storm system currently moving across much of the midwest and southern US. My name is Marina Dunbar and I will be bringing you the latest news lines.
More than 220 million people are likely to be affected by the huge winter weather system as it forms in parts of the Rocky mountains and Great Plains and surges across southern and midwestern areas from Friday, blowing up the east coast on Saturday and reaching as far north as Maine by Sunday. The storm has been dubbed Winter Storm Fern by the Weather Channel.
