Talk of the Town
Delegate Eric Phillips, who serves Martinsville and Henry County in the General Assembly, has been named deputy minority whip and appointed to the House Transportation Committee. Among his duties, Phillips will now assist caucus leadership with floor operations and legislative coordination during the General Assembly session.
(NEW YORK) — More than 120 million people are on alert for a brutal storm that’s going to bring dangerous ice and snow to the South, bitter cold to the Midwest, and a massive snowfall to the Northeast.
South
The storm moves into the South on Friday afternoon. By the evening, Dallas will see a wintry mix and Oklahoma and Kansas will get some snow.
On Saturday morning, the temperature is forecast to fall to 27 degrees in Dallas; 8 degrees in Oklahoma City; 14 degrees in Little Rock, Arkansas; and 19 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee.
As temperatures drop on Saturday, extremely dangerous snow and ice will move in from Dallas to Little Rock to Memphis, Tennessee.
Residents should be prepared for dangerous travel conditions and widespread power outages, which could leave people without electricity or heat.
The lack of heat will be very dangerous in several major cities — including Dallas, Little Rock and Memphis — where the bitter cold is expected to continue well after the storm passes.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was activating state emergency response resources, saying the freezing rain, sleet and snow “could create hazardous travel conditions into the weekend and cause impacts to infrastructure.”
By Saturday afternoon, the snow and ice could stretch as far east as Georgia and the Carolinas.
The governors of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina have declared states of emergency.
Midwest
This unforgiving arctic blast will strike the Midwest late Thursday into Friday, bringing extremely dangerous temperatures.
On Friday morning, the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to plunge to minus 39 degrees in Minneapolis, minus 32 in Chicago and minus 39 in Madison and Green Bay, Wisconsin. In these conditions, frostbite can develop in just 10 minutes.
Northeast
The brutal cold will strike the Northeast on Friday night, with below-freezing temperatures expected for New York City and Philadelphia.
Then on Sunday, the storm will hit the Northeast, bringing likely plowable snow from Washington, D.C., to New York City to Boston.
The snow totals are not yet clear, but by the Monday morning commute, 6 to 12 inches is possible in some areas.
Airline travel alerts
Many airlines are issuing travel alerts and waiving rebooking fees ahead of the storm.
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have waived rebooking fees, allowing passengers to rebook their flights at no additional cost.
United has issued travel waivers for cities expected to be affected, allowing those who bought tickets on or before Tuesday to rebook without a fee if their travel is affected.
Southwest said it’s monitoring the weather and will issue any advisories or make any changes as needed.
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather is headed to the deep South, from Texas to Mississippi, with damaging winds, possible tornadoes and some large hail forecast.
A powerful storm system will move out of the Rockies on Saturday and will bring the severe weather across the deep South.
Storms will move into Dallas, Texas, late Saturday morning, with some gusty winds and very heavy rain.
The storms will move through Houston between 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday with damaging winds, a threat for an isolated tornado and some heavy rain.
New Orleans, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi, will see storms moving through between midnight and 2 a.m. Damaging winds, isolated tornado and heavy rain is possible.
Storms move through Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, early Sunday morning from 5 to 8 a.m. with gusty winds and heavy rain.
Atlanta gets storms and heavy rain mid to late morning Sunday, but severe weather with tornado threat will stay south into Albany, Georgia, to Panama City, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Florida
This same storm system with severe weather will also bring heavy rain from Texas all the way to the Carolinas with a chance for flash flooding.
The highest threat for flash flooding will be from just east of Dallas, Texas, to Little Rock, Arkansas and into Memphis, Tennessee.
Locally some areas could get 2 to 4 inches of rain in a short period of time, causing flash flooding.
After a very dry period for the entire western U.S., a very active storm track has its eyes set on the West.
Starting Sunday afternoon, a series of storms will pound the West from California to Colorado with very heavy snow in the mountains and heavy rain and flooding for coastal California.
The highest threat for flash flooding and debris flow will be from just south of the San Francisco Bay area down to Los Angeles.
Sunday through Friday, some areas in California could see 3 to 6 inches of rain, which is expected to cause flash flooding and debris flow.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains, in California, some areas could see 3 to 6 feet of snow. The Rockies could also see several feet of snow next week.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — Some Verizon customers were experiencing a service outage on Wednesday afternoon, according to the company.
Verizon said it was not immediately clear how long the service would be down.
“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” Verizon said in a statement to ABC News. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Many Verizon customers said on social media that their phones showed “SOS” in place of network bars.
According to Downdetector at least 175,000 Verizon customers were affected at one point, but that number has since gone down. Downdetector, a site that tracks outages, said Verizon customers began noticing interrupted service around noon Eastern time.
New York Emergency Management (NYCEM) officials said the outage is affecting some users calling 911.
“Verizon is working to solve the issue,” NYCEM said in a statement. “If you have an emergency and cannot connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please call using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police precinct or fire station to report the emergency. In the meantime, you can check the website or social media account of your cellphone carrier for updates.”
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.