Nearly 50 Deaths Reportedly Linked To Brutal Winter Storm

The powerful winter storm that swept across the United States has been linked to at least 49 fatalities, according to meteorologist Max Velocity.

New York had the most reported fatalities, 9, followed by Maine and Tennessee.

Velocity listed the total fatalities:

• Confirmed Fatalities: 49+
• New York: 9 fatalities (extreme cold, shoveling snow)
• Maine: 6 fatalities
  (plane crash due to deteriorated conditions)
• Tennessee: 5 fatalities (extreme cold and car crashes)
• Pennsylvania: 3 fatalities (cardiac arrest while shoveling snow)
• Louisiana: 3 fatalities (extreme cold)
• Texas: 3 fatalities (extreme cold, vehicle crash, sledding accident)
• Iowa: 2 fatalities (car crash and extreme cold)
• Mississippi: 2 fatalities (extreme cold and tree falling on a home due to ice accumulation)
• Ohio: 2 fatalities (snowplow accidents)
• South Carolina: 2 fatalities (extreme cold)
• Virginia: 2 fatalities (car crashes)
• Arkansas: 1 fatality (extreme cold)
• Illinois: 1 fatality (vehicle struck by train)
• Indiana: 1 fatality (car crash)
• Kansas: 1 fatality (extreme cold)
• Massachusetts: 1 fatality (snowplow accident)
• Michigan: 1 fatality (extreme cold)
• North Carolina: 1 fatality (extreme cold)
• New Jersey: 1 fatality (cardiac arrest while shoveling snow)
• Montreal: 1 fatality (extreme cold)
• Kentucky: 1 fatality (extreme cold)

BREAKING: At least 49 fatalities have been confirmed from this weekend’s historic winter storm.

Confirmed Fatalities: 49+
• New York: 9 fatalities (extreme cold, shoveling snow)
• Maine: 6 fatalities
(plane crash due to deteriorated conditions)
• Tennessee: 5 fatalities…

— Max Velocity (@MaxVelocityWX) January 27, 2026

Audacy explained further:

Meteorologists say the storm system brought record-low temperatures and widespread travel hazards, prompting school closures, canceled flights, and emergency weather warnings in regions not accustomed to severe winter weather.

Public safety officials continue to urge people to stay off icy roads, limit outdoor exposure in sub-freezing temperatures, and check on vulnerable neighbors as cleanup and recovery efforts continue.

Hundreds of thousands in Tennessee remained without power on Monday after the storm.

TENNESSEE: Hundreds Of Thousands Remain Without Power Following Storm, “Winter Disaster Unfolding”

“Tennessee is facing a winter disaster unfolding in real time. Residents describe the scene as a ‘warzone’, with loud explosions echoing through neighborhoods as ice-laden trees and power lines continue to snap and fall,” Max Velocity said.

“More than 200,000 people across Tennessee remain without power, many of them stuck in dangerously cold homes with no heat as temperatures drop. Emergency crews are overwhelmed, travel is nearly impossible in some areas, and restoration efforts could take days,” he added.

Tennessee is facing a winter disaster unfolding in real time.

Residents describe the scene as a "warzone", with loud explosions echoing through neighborhoods as ice-laden trees and power lines continue to snap and fall.

More than 200,000 people across Tennessee remain without… pic.twitter.com/aDQIRCOvnh

— Max Velocity (@MaxVelocityWX) January 26, 2026

The winter storm also created harsh conditions in Mississippi, leaving approximately 150,000 residents without power.

Mississippi County Devastated By Ice Storm, Thousands Without Power

More from The New York Times:

After a powerful winter storm dumped heavy snow, sleet and ice across wide swaths of the U.S., millions of people on Monday were facing new dangers: perilously cold temperatures and widespread power outages that forecasters and local governments warned could last for days.

The storm dumped more than a foot of snow in at least 19 states, from New Mexico to Maine, according to preliminary figures from the National Weather Service. At least 22 deaths were reported across the country, including several from hypothermia and medical emergencies associated with clearing snow. At least nine other deaths were being investigated to determine whether they were linked to the storm.

The worst of the weather may not be over. More than 70 million people remained under an extreme cold warning on Monday, with below zero temperatures expected to sweep from the Northern Plains to the Northeast and freezing temperatures expected to reach as far south as the Gulf Coast throughout the week. The threat posed by the bitter cold has been intensified by outages that left about 700,000 homes and businesses without power on Monday, particularly in the South, according to poweroutage.com. Freezing rain hit one Mississippi county especially hard.

Local officials, scrambling to restore service, warned that recovery efforts could take days. In Nashville, where the main electric agency said it saw the largest number of simultaneous power outages in its history, the mayor said trees were still falling and knocking out power that had already been restored. The city’s emergency management director urged residents to plan for being out of power “for the long haul.”