Snow, bitter cold temperatures ring in 2026 in the Northeast while Southern California under flood threat
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
(New York) New Year’s Day was met with snow and cold temperatures from the Northeast to the Great Lakes while much of California braces for heavy rains.
Rochester and Buffalo received six inches of snow while Pittsburgh received four inches and Cleveland up to two inches.
A snow squall quickly moved through the Northeast and parts of the I-95 corridor earlier this morning, bringing heavy snow and gusty winds that briefly reduced visibility down to a quarter mile.
While the clipper system has mostly moved out, coastal New England from Cape Cod up to Bangor, Maine, could see snow continuing into this afternoon.
An additional inch of snow is possible for Cape Cod up to Boston, while parts of southern Maine could get an additional three inches to nine inches through this afternoon.
Behind the snow squall is a blast of arctic air that will sweep through and bring blustery conditions. It will be in the teens in New York City and around the mid-20s for Washington, D.C.
Detroit, Michigan, is expecting a windchill of 7 degrees and in Alpena, in northern Michigan, a windchill of 2 degrees.
Single digit to near zero wind chills are expected further north tomorrow.
Lake-effect snow is expected to briefly slow down Thursday morning but pick back up later in the afternoon and continue through the rest of week.
Through Friday, Oswego and Watertown in upstate New York could see between 12 inches and 24 inches. Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, could see six inches to 12 inches and Bangor, Maine, could see three inches to six inches.
Cold weather is also expected to hit the south with temperatures in the 30s possible Thursday morning from the Florida Panhandle into southern Georgia.
Warmer temperatures are expected to return slowly this weekend for the Southeast and by Monday temperatures should be back above average.
Meanwhile, in Southern California, more than 17 million Americans are under a flood watch through Thursday night due to heavy rains.
In the Los Angeles area, heavy rain showers are expected between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m., with a possibility of flash flooding. No flash flood alerts have been issued so far.
The 137th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena — California’s famed New Year’s Day tradition known for its flower-covered floats — will see rain Thursday morning for the first time since 2006.
A flood watch is also in place in northern and central California over the weekend.
Rain will spread inland and north over much of the western U.S. on Thursday with mountain snow falling across the southern Sierra Nevada into parts of the southern Rockies.
The National Weather Service said excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.
ABC News’ Kenton Gewecke and Dan Peck contributed to this report.
Marimar Martinez, a Chicago teacher’s assistant who survived being shot five times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in October 2025, attends a press conference with her lawyers at the law offices of Cheronis & Parente LLC and Gallagher & Kosner Law LLC on February 11, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Last October, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that federal agents in Chicago were “forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen” after their SUV was “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”
But analysis of recently released body-camera footage of the shooting of Marimar Martinez and videos verified by nearby businesses and bystanders suggests that those claims were exaggerated — and that federal agents, knowing their actions were being recorded, appeared to coordinate with one another to explain their conduct that day.
Body camera footage and other evidence was released Tuesday after a federal judge last week granted a motion to permit the public release of the materials in the case.
The video shows that in the minute before the shooting, agents were being followed by two, not 10 vehicles. Agents stated they were “boxed in,” but at no time was their vehicle blocked from the front.
At no point in footage from an agent’s body-worn camera or from multiple surveillance cameras is a driver seen ramming the agents’ vehicle; instead, the video shows an agent appearing to steer toward the vehicle driven by Martinez, crashing into her, and then rapidly firing toward her.
Martinez, a U.S. citizen and teacher’s assistant, was shot five times during the incident. She’s now planning to sue DHS and the agent for allegedly making false claims about her following the shooting and labeling her a domestic terrorist.
While prosecutors originally alleged that Martinez “aggressively and erratically” pursued officers that day, a judge dismissed the criminal case against her with prejudice after a reversal by the Department of Justice, which sought to dismiss the case.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement that the officer who shot Martinez was placed on administrative leave following the incident. The statement did not indicate the length of the administrative leave or when it began.
“CBP is committed to the highest standards of conduct, transparency, and accountability. All significant use-of-force incidents are thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented to the National Use of Force Review Board (NUFRB), an independent body comprised of senior CBP officials and representatives from DHS and DOJ, including the DOJ Civil Rights Division,” the statement said.
Below is a timeline of the incident based on the body camera footage and bystander video leading up to and after the shooting.
The lead-up 10:27:02 a.m.
Three federal agents are riding in an SUV in the first moments of video from an agent’s body-worn camera. Later, the video will reveal an Uber placard on the front of their SUV. One agent is seen speaking into the voice chat app on a nearby phone.
At the time, the Trump administration had surged federal resources for immigration enforcement in Chicago as part of “Operation Midway Blitz.”
According to a court filing, the agents were part of a protective detail assisting a nearby operation in Oaklawn. An FBI agent originally attested that the officers were being followed by multiple civilian vehicles.
10:28:17 a.m.
The agent’s body camera begins recording audio.
“Camera’s on,” the agent says.
The agent readies an assault rifle. With his finger on the trigger, one of the agents can be heard saying what sounds like either “do something, b—-,” or “hit something, b—-.”
10:28:35 a.m.
Another agent is seen pointing his handgun toward the right of the SUV.
A nearby driver repeatedly honks their horn, prompting one of the officers to remark, “Honk all you want.”
The agents’ vehicle is captured on a security camera on Kedzie Avenue. The SUV is flanked by Martinez, in a gray Nissan Rogue, to the agents’ left.
To their right is a GMC SUV, adorned with a Mexican flag on its hood, driven by Anthony Ruiz. Ahead of them are two cars: a sedan and a red pickup truck.
10:28:47 a.m.
Seconds later, the agent with the active body-worn camera says, “Alright, it’s time to get aggressive, get the f—- out. Because they’re trying to box us in.”
“If she hits us, it’s … ,” another agent can be heard saying.
10:28:57 a.m.
Charles Exum, the driver, appears to be the agent who says, “We’re going to make contact, we’re boxed in … we have got to get [inaudible] out of here. “
“We are boxed in,” the agent with the active body-worn camera repeats.
10:28:58 a.m.
The three vehicles briefly enter the frame of a security camera looking over a gas station parking lot.
Martinez, in the Nissan Rogue, is parallel with the agents to their left. Ruiz is behind them and to their right.
The pickup truck and the sedan, previously observed ahead of the agents’ vehicle, are also observed traveling several car lengths ahead of the agents.
10:29:01 a.m.
Exum appears to turn the car’s wheel to the left. A loud crash is heard, and the agents visibly react.
By this time, the two cars ahead of the agents have driven into the path of another security camera. The cars do not stop and drive out of view.
The shooting 10:29:04 a.m.
The agents’ vehicle comes to a stop. Their vehicle and Ruiz’s are seen stopped at the rightmost edge of the gas station security footage. The view of Martinez’s vehicle is blocked, and we do not see the agents’ vehicle make contact with hers.
Exum is seen holding a handgun in his right hand.
10:29:06 a.m.
“Out of the car,” the driver says, as he exits the car with his handgun drawn.
“Be advised, we’ve been struck, we’ve been struck,” the agent with the body-worn camera says.
A second later, five gunshots can be heard in rapid succession.
The agents’ SUV enters the field of view of another security camera. A drawing of the scene — made by one of the agents during their interview with the FBI, according to Martinez’s lawyers — indicated three vehicles were ahead of the agents’ SUV, but the footage shows that at the moment of the shooting, the agents’ vehicle has an unobstructed path forward.
10:29:09 a.m.
Martinez’s vehicle enters the frame of the security camera. She drives north, away from the scene.
10:29:11 a.m.
The agent with the body-worn camera points his rifle toward Ruiz’s vehicle, as it reverses and crashes into a parked car before turning to the left to drive away. Ruiz is later arrested at a gas station a half block away.
“Don’t you f—— move,” the officer says.
10:29:18 a.m.
As the agent turns around, his body camera shows that the SUV is not being blocked in front of it.
The aftermath 10:32:49 a.m.
Exum’s body-worn camera turns on about three minutes after firing his weapon.
10:39:19 a.m.
Exum tells a responding officer that he fired “five to seven shots” at Martinez.
“I don’t know if I hit her or not,” he says. “I [was] angled at the driver, I got five to seven rounds off at her.”
“It was a woman shooting?” the officer asked.
“No, I was shooting,” Exum said.
10:39:38 a.m.
Exum tells a responding officer that he “did the shooting” after Martinez hit his SUV.
“She already hit my vehicle, we got out to defend, she came forward, and that’s when I opened up on her,” he said. “We did not get shot at; we did the shooting.”
10:45:04 a.m.
As more officers arrive at the scene, Exum and the other agents begin to recount the incident and to ask whether his camera was on.
“We were getting out to defend because they already tried to box us in,” he said. “She was moving forward into me.”
“Camera on or no?” an officer said.
“No, I didn’t have it because we were [inaudible],” he said.
“That’s good, as long as you can justify it, bro,” the officer responds.
10:48:14 a.m.
As Exum prepares to light a cigarette, another officer acknowledges that their conversation is being recorded and advises him to “keep everything out.”
“So she hit you guys … You got boxed in?” an officer asked.
“We [were] getting boxed in, and I had to push left. She came in, she pulled over, stopped. I got out so we could defend,” Exum said.
“Hey, hey, just real quick though, since we’re recording, keep it [inaudible],” another officer says. “Keep everything out, you’re good man.”
10:50:30 a.m.
Another officer tells Exum to “keep [his] mouth shut” about the incident.
“Just so you know, you don’t give statements to anybody,” the officer says. “Absolutely no statements at all … You keep your mouth shut.”
Police officers remain on the scene of a shooting that killed two and wounded at least eight at Brown University on December 13, 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Libby O’Neill/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A person of interest was taken into custody early Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting at Brown University, according to Kristy DosReis, a spokesperson for the Providence Police Department.
The person in custody was caught about 3:45 p.m. at a hotel in Coventry, R.I., about 28 miles south of Providence, according to law enforcement sources and Coventry police.
At the time the person was detained, the individual was allegedly in possession of two guns, according to sources.
“We have detained a person of interest,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a Sunday-morning news conference. “We are lifting the shelter-in-place.”
Rhode Island law enforcement authorities said no one else is being sought in the shooting that occurred Saturday on the Ivy League campus, which killed two people and injured nine, according to officials.
The residents of Providence can “breathe a little easier,” Smiley said.
A tip from the public led police to the location where the person of interest was detained, according to sources.
A federal source told ABC News the person was only being called a person of interest at this point, but added that they were confident they were on the right track.
The person in custody is not a student at the university, sources familiar with the situation said.
The person was detained hours after the mass shooting on Saturday on the school’s East Side campus. Two students were shot and killed and another nine were transported to local hospitals with injuries amid a day of “devastating gun violence,” Christina H. Paxson, the university’s president, said in a statement posted just prior to 2 a.m. ET.
“Our hearts go out to them. This is a day of tremendous sorrow,” Paxson said. “No parent or family member should ever have to endure a day like this.”
Eight of the nine who had been injured remained in the hospital on Sunday morning, officials said, adding that seven of them were in stable condition and one was in critical but stable condition.
A shelter-in-place order that had been put into effect for the university’s College Hill campus was lifted early Sunday by Providence Police, the school said in a 5:42 a.m. ET alert to students, adding that “police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene.”
The fatal shooting on Saturday on the city’s East Side came as students across the College Hill area were getting ready for or taking exams ahead of the winter break.
The shooting took place at the school’s Barus & Holley building, where engineering and physics classes are held, on Hope Street, officials said.
The shooting took place in a lecture hall during a final exam review, according to Paxson.
The FBI and other law enforcement officials had shared a short video clip of someone whom they described as a person of interest. The person in the clip could be seen dressed in dark clothing, including what appeared to be a hood, as they walk along Hope Street and take a corner headed north.
The person’s right hand appeared to be in their jacket pocket as they walked northward along Waterman Street before exiting from the frame.
The new storm will bring widespread rain and mountain snow starting New Year’s Eve and continuing through the end of the week.
An excessive rainfall risk level of 2 out of 4 is in place in the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas on Wednesday and Thursday.
Through Friday, 2 to 4 inches of rain is possible at higher elevations, and 1 to 2 inches at lower elevations like downtown Los Angeles.
In the Northeast, another cold front is moving through on Wednesday and Thursday, which brings the slight chance for a few snow flurries to mix in with confetti as the ball drops in Times Square. But no measurable snow accumulation is expected and the flurries will be gone by sunrise on Thursday.
The only part of the Northeast to get intense snow is the Great Lakes, where lake effect snow will continue through the week. A winter storm warning is in place in Orchard Park, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills, where residents could see up to 3 feet of snow by the end of New Year’s Day.
The rest of the country will be dry, with above average temperatures through the Plains and much of the South on New Year’s Day.
