An ABC News graphic shows the radar for the southeastern United States at 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (ABC News)
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — For much of the Gulf Coast, the snowstorm that’s expected to end soon was a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm.
Many areas saw more snow than they have in at least 130 years, making this truly a historic event.
Florida just saw the most snow on record, with a preliminary 8.8 inches observed in Milton, which is north of Pensacola. This is the highest snow total on record for the state, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow reports from the last 24 hours include about 1.2 inches in Houston, Texas. That’s the official number because it was taken at the city’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, but the southeast part of the city saw over 4 inces. The NWS said it “is one of the top snowstorms to impact the Houston area.”
Elsewhere in the South, the snowfall was higher. In Louisiana, Baton Rouge saw 7.6 inches, New Orleans saw 8 inches and Lake Charles saw at least 4.8 inches, with up to 6 inches in some areas. Lafayette has seen 9 inches.
The snowfall the most recent highest total in New Orleans was from New Year’s Even in 1963 when 2.7 inches fell.
The 7.5 inches that fell in Mobile, Alabama, and the 7.6 inches in Pensacola, Florida, were all-time records.
Snow is still falling early Wednesday along the coastal Carolinas, in Georgia and in northern Florida.
About 5 inches have so far been reported in parts of coastal North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Even North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said it’s seen 3.8 inches — and it’s still snowing there.
The snow is expected to end around 7 a.m. for the east coast, exiting Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, last.
Rain will continue in the Florida peninsula into the afternoon, heading south and exciting Miami, with lingering spot showers expected through the evening and again on Thursday for the Florida peninsula.
(RALEIGH, NC) — A police officer has been seriously injured after a suspect opened fire at authorities from inside a home, officials said.
Officers were called to a home in the Renaissance Park neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina, just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Raleigh Police Deputy Chief of Operations Rico Boyce said.
Once at the scene, someone inside the home opened fire at responding officers, causing officers to return fire before striking and fatally wounding the suspect, police said.
One officer was shot during the exchange and was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries, Boyce said.
The incident was contained to the home, and the emergency alert that was sent to those in the area has since been lifted, Deputy Chief Boyce continued.
“I have been briefed by Chief Patterson concerning the shooting of a Raleigh police officer tonight. The officer is being treated at the hospital now. Anna and I are praying for a complete recovery,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein posted on social medi
Police did not give any further details behind the motivation of the shooting or the identities of those involved.
(NEW JERSEY) — On Donald Trump’s first day in office, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president and his administration to “reexamine” New York City’s highly debated congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the nation, and its impact on the Garden State.
Murphy said Tuesday he has not yet heard from Trump on his letter, which requested that “New York’s congestion pricing scheme receive the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year.”
In the letter, Murphy noted the state plans to amend its pending lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration over congestion pricing. Murphy told reporters Tuesday that the Biden administration did an “incomplete” study on the impacts of the plan.
“The Biden administration, which is why we sued in the first place, did not do what is called an environmental impact study, which takes longer, but is more comprehensive,” Murphy said during a Q&A at an unrelated press event. “It would have included environmental impact on New Jersey. That’s why we took legal action. I’ve said publicly from moment one, we will live with the results of that study.”
“We’re asking the Trump administration to do what the Biden administration did not do,” he continued.
The congestion pricing plan, which launched on Jan. 5, newly charges passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. The extra per-ride surcharge is 75 cents for taxis and black car services, and $1.50 for Ubers and Lyfts. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses will be charged $14.40, while large trucks and tour buses must pay $21.60.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city’s subways as well as bridges and commuter rails, has said the toll enables it to issue $15 billion in bonds to help fund capital projects.
In response to Murphy’s letter to Trump, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters on Tuesday that if the congestion pricing plan is ultimately killed, “that comes with $15 billion more” the federal government will need to give to New York.
“That’s $15 billion of lost investment that we will need to have — not from the state, but from the federal government,” Hochul said during a presentation on the state’s 2026 executive budget.
In his letter to Trump, Murphy noted congestion pricing is one area where the Democratic governor believes their “priorities align.” He cited remarks Trump made during his campaign for president, in which he called the plan a “massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers, and anyone going into Manhattan,” as well as after the election, in which he called it the “worst plan in the history of womankind.”
“For my part, I am open to congestion pricing in concept,” Murphy wrote in the letter, though said the resulting plan is a “disaster for working- and middle-class New Jersey commuters and residents” who now need to pay a fee on top of bridge or tunnel tolls.
“And adding insult to injury, New Jersey communities are not being fully compensated for the additional traffic and attendant pollution that will be re-routed to them because of congestion pricing,” he wrote.
New York City’s congestion pricing plan got underway following a yearslong environmental review process. After postponing the launch of the program days before it was set to start last year, Hochul revived it with a new, phased-in toll plan that initially lowers the fee.
A week after the launch, preliminary data showed the plan is working, with an average of 7.5% fewer vehicles than would have been expected in the district without congestion pricing, officials said.
(OHIO) — Four Chilean nationals were arrested in connection with the burglary that occurred at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home in December, according to court records.
On Jan. 10, 2025, a special agent with the Ohio State Highway Patrol spotted suspicious luggage being carried into a vehicle outside of a hotel in Fairborn, Ohio, according to court records.
When the agent pulled the car over, Alexander Chavez, Bastian Morales, Jordan Sanchez and Sergio Cabello, allegedly showed the agent fake identification. The car smelled of marijuana and it was later confirmed that the four men were in the country illegally, court records filed in Clark County, Ohio, say.
When police searched the car, they say they found “two Husky automatic center punch pools wrapped in a cloth towel behind the glove box.”
Police say these tools are used by South American theft groups to break glass and enter houses.
The affidavit says that in the vehicle police found an “old LSU shirt and Bengals hat believed to be stolen from the December 9, 2024 burglary in Hamilton County, Ohio.”
On Dec. 9, Joe Burrow’s home in Hamilton County, Ohio, was burglarized, according to police records.
The affidavit says the men were brought to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for further questioning. When a detective called one of the cell phone numbers that was placed at the scene via cellphone data, Morales’ phone started ringing, according to court records.
Morales was also seen allegedly carrying a Louis Vuitton style bag and was previously identified “as a male possibly involved in a burglary offense” on the day of the burglary at Burrow’s home.
“This is an ongoing investigating involving multiple burglaries across the United States of America, specifically targeting multi-million dollar residences and your affiant and brother investigators have arrested at least six different South American burglary groups, five of which were Chilean nationals,” a criminal complaint says.
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s bid to cut off birthright citizenship is a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage,” attorneys for 15 states and the city of San Francisco said Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order signed just hours after he was sworn in Monday.
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
“The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit said.
Trump’s order directed federal agencies — starting next month — to stop issuing citizenship documents to U.S.-born children of undocumented mothers or mothers in the country on temporary visas, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
According to the lawsuit, about 150,000 children born each year to two parents who were noncitizens and lacked legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care, and early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities.
“They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless,” the lawsuit said.
The states warned the executive order would also cause them to lose federal funding for programs that render services to children regardless of their immigration status.
While Trump’s order purports to unilaterally end birthright citizenship, only the U.S. Supreme Court can determine how the 14th Amendment applies.
“President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship is a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. “For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: babies who are born in this country are American citizens.
The states are seeking to invalidate the executive order and stop any actions taken to implement it. Their lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction to immediately prevent the order from taking effect.
“The great promise of our nation is that everyone born here is a citizen of the United States, able to achieve the American dream,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “This fundamental right to birthright citizenship, rooted in the 14th Amendment and born from the ashes of slavery, is a cornerstone of our nation’s commitment to justice.”
On Tuesday, nonprofit groups in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also filed federal lawsuits challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s classified documents case has blocked the Department of Justice from sharing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his probe with select members of Congress.
Judge Aileen Cannon, in an order issued one day after Trump’s inauguration, offered a scathing criticism of the Department of Justice’s “startling” conduct and willingness to “gamble” with the rights of Trump’s former co-defendants by attempting to allow four members of Congress to review Smith’s final report as directed by DOJ policy.
“Prosecutors play a special role in our criminal justice system and are entrusted and expected to do justice,” Cannon wrote. “The Department of Justice’s position on Defendants’ Emergency Motion … has not been faithful to that obligation.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information. The former president, along with his longtime aide Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Judge Cannon dismissed the case in July based on the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment, and Smith dropped Trump from his appeal of the case after the election due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president — but the Justice Department appealed the dismissal of the case against Nauta and De Oliveira.
Cannon, in her ruling issued Tuesday, criticized prosecutors for being willing to release sensitive court materials — including material pursuant to grand jury subpoenas — while the case against Trump’s former co-defendants is ongoing.
“In short, the Department offers no valid justification for the purportedly urgent desire to release to members of Congress case information in an ongoing criminal proceeding,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon expressed concern that the report, if shown to members of Congress, could be leaked publicly and prevent Trump’s former co-defendants from having a fair trial.
“This Court lacks any means to enforce any proffered conditions of confidentiality, to the extent they even exist in memorialized form. And most fundamentally, the Department has offered no valid reason to engage in this gamble with the Defendants’ rights,” the order said.
Cannon’s order remains in effect at least 30 days after the case proceedings conclude, at which point the Justice Department can advise the court about their position on the order.
The DOJ’s new leadership under the Trump is not expected to press for the report’s release, making it unlikely that the report will ever see the light of day.
(WASHINGTON) — Among the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the newly named “Gulf of America.”
“President Trump is bringing common sense to government and renewing the pillars of American civilization,” the newly inaugurated president’s executive order said.
Trump also called for Alaska’s 20,000-foot mountain, Denali, to be reverted back to Mount McKinley, which was its name before former President Barack Obama had it changed in 2015.
Trump’s executive order calls for the U.S. secretary of the interior to change the names on federal maps.
He has appointed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for the position.
During his January press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump declared he would change the name, saying the gulf is currently run by cartels and that “it’s ours.”
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America,” Trump said at the time. “What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”
Presidents do have the authority to rename geographic regions and features, but it needs to be done via executive order.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names typically has the jurisdiction for geographic names.
The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest and most important bodies of water in North America. It’s the ninth-largest body of water in the world and covers some 600,000 square miles.
Half of the U.S. petroleum refining and natural gas processing capacity is located along the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it supplies about 40% of the nation’s seafood, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
Following Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on winter weather in the state that already refers to the gulf as the “Gulf of America.”
While referring to a weather system that could impact the state beginning Tuesday, DeSantis’ executive order said, “An area of low pressure moving across the Gulf of America, interacting with Arctic air, will bring widespread impactful winter weather to North Florida.”
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday in a response to Trump’s various decrees.
An ABC News graphic shows the weather forecast on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — The first ever blizzard warning has been issued for parts of the Texas and Louisiana coast as a historic snowstorm hits the South.
Debilitating travel conditions and power outages are possible across the region.
Houston’s airports are closed and nearly 2,000 flights are canceled across the U.S.
The snow is underway Tuesday morning from Austin to Houston to Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama.
By midday, the snow will leave the Houston area and push east, continuing across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Georgia and the Carolinas.
By the evening, the snow will be ending in Alabama and still hitting Tallahassee, Florida; Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina.
Houston may see 1 to 3 inches of snow and New Orleans may see 3 to 5 inches of snow.
New Orleans has only recorded snowfall on eight days since National Weather Service records began in 1948.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said a storm of this magnitude has not been documented since 1963.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, may get 3 to 6 inches of snow and the Florida Panhandle may see 2 to 4 inches.
Schools are closed from Houston to New Orleans to Savannah.
“Our reality is this, we can do hurricanes and tropical storms, alright? We don’t do cold and we don’t do ice well,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said Monday. “If you don’t have to go outside, don’t. Stay home. Watch Netflix, get make some soup, enjoy your family.”
The snow will be done by sunrise Wednesday but rain will continue in the Florida Peninsula.
An ABC News graphic shows the weather forecast on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — About 265 million Americans, or nearly 80% of the population, are under cold weather alerts on Tuesday, as dangerous temperatures are felt in at least 43 states.
About 45 million Americans in the South are under winter storm alerts as the largest winter storm in decades slams the Gulf states today from Texas to Florida and up through the Carolina coast.
That storm is bringing the first-ever blizzard warning issued for Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana, with observed visibility down to a quarter-mile and wind gusts to 35 mph.
More than 12 million Americans are also under red flag warnings in southern California, with about 3 million tagged with a “particularly dangerous situation” as high winds and desperately dry conditions hold over the already reeling communities.
Extreme cold from coast to coast
Only five of the lower 48 states are not under cold weather alerts Tuesday morning — Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Every other state is either completely shrouded in cold alerts or partially affected.
Record lows were recorded on Monday in several cities, including Colorado Springs, Colorado, were the temperature dropped to 14 degrees below zero. Rawlins, Wyoming, hit 23 degrees below; Alliance, Nebraska, hit 22 degrees below; and Borger, Texas, tied its record low of 1 degree.
Temperatures early Tuesday are below freezing along the Gulf Coast and down to 20 below zero in the north — and those are just the actual temperatures. With wind chills, it feels near 40 degrees below zero in Fargo, North Dakota, and like 18 degrees in Houston, Texas.
Rare record-low temps are possible in Kansas City, Missouri, and in Salina, Kansas. Even this afternoon, wind chills won’t go above 15 degrees below zero in Chicago, Illinois.
On Wednesday morning, the coldest wind chill temps will reach the Northeast where wind chills near zero will hit New York City and D.C. and go below zero in Boston. Farther south in the Great Smokey Mountains, Asheville, NC will feel like -2 on Wednesday morning.
Record lows are possible on Wednesday morning in places like Corpus Christi, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola along the Gulf Coast and Cleveland and Akron in Ohio.
In the Midwest, many of these cold alerts are in effect through Tuesday morning only. In the South and East, alerts are extended through Wednesday or Thursday depending on the location.
Historic sourthern snow storm
The late 1800s saw a major snow storm along the Gulf Coast, but most of those records are not recognized by the National Weather Service, as it was before accurate reporting of snowfall was set up for these areas.
However, reports of 20 inches in Houston and 8 inches in New Orleans means this storm won’t break those historical numbers, but that was also right around the time electricity was being introduced to Southern cities — so this will likely be the most impactful storm of our modern era, and historic within the last century.
Debilitating travel conditions are expected to be widespread and power outages will be possible — which is dangerous in the life-threatening cold which could also burst pipes.
Local officials are warning residents to be prepared in case of power outage and in some communities there are suggestions to stay home and not travel if they don’t have to.
A first-ever blizzard warning has been issued for Beaumont, TX and Lake Charles, LA and Lafayette, LA with observed visibility down to a quarter-mile and wind gusts to 35 mph. (h/t Wnek)
Already in central Texas more than an inch has fallen in Gonzales and 1 inches has been reported in Taylor. These numbers will be updating all morning as reports come in.
Radar is showing widespread snow from Austin to near Corpus Christi, which will likely see sleet, to Houston to nearly all of Louisiana and into Mississippi and Alabama this morning.
(CHAMBERS COUNTY, AL) — A fire chief in Alabama has been shot and killed after he stopped to help a driver who had hit a deer with their vehicle, police said.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m. on Sunday when Chambers County deputies in Alabama were dispatched to County Road 267 near U.S. 431 in the Stroud — located about 100 miles northeast of Montgomery — and found three individuals suffering from gunshot wounds upon their arrival, according to a statement from Chambers County Alabama Sheriff’s Office released on Monday.
One of the shooting victims — identified as 54-year-old James Bartholomew Cauthen from Moreland, Georgia — was deceased when authorities arrived. The other two were taken by helicopter to LaGrange and Columbus trauma centers, police said.
“Early investigation indicates that Chief Cauthen was attempting to assist individuals that had struck a deer while traveling on County Road 267,” police said. “Another individual (William Randall Franklin) that resided in the area opened fire on Chief Cauthen and the individual that struck the deer. All individuals were injured during the shootout. Chief Cauthen succumbed to his injuries prior to deputies arriving on the scene.”
Police did not immediately say why Franklin may have opened fire on Cauthen and the unnamed person who struck the deer with their car, but they did say that Cauthen was a battalion fire chief with Coweta County Fire.
“At this time, investigators are working to piece together the events that led to this horrific scene,” Chambers County Alabama Sheriff’s Office said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Coweta County for his loss.”
An arrest warrant for murder was issued for Franklin and police said he will be arrested upon release from treatment at Piedmont Medical Center.
“Coweta County Fire Rescue continues to be devastated by the tragic passing of Battalion Chief Bart Cauthen,” Coweta Fire and Rescue said in a statement following Cauthen’s death. “Cauthen has been with our department for more than 24 years. He was an amazing, hard-working man with a gentle soul. Just like many of you, we have many questions as we navigate through this horrible tragedy. Our hearts and prayers go out to Cauthen’s family, friends and our brothers and sisters in the Fire Rescue family who worked closely with him.”
Anyone with information pertaining to this case is asked to contact the Criminal Investigations Division at Chambers County Alabama Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation into the shooting currently remains open.
