(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.
In this image posted to social media on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are shown at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2026, watching a remote feed of the US military’s mission to capture Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. (@realdonaldtrump)
(NEW YORK) – At a Mar-a-Lago news conference Saturday morning, hours after he ordered a military strike in Venezuela and the capture of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, President Donald Trump started off calling it an anti-drug law enforcement operation.
His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said “at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice.”
But Trump’s framing of the issue appeared to quickly expand when he stunned observers by saying the U.S. was going to “run the country” temporarily, even if that involved troops on the ground, that American companies would soon start selling the country’s vast oil reserves, and that it was part of an overall strategy of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
While Trump said that the U.S. would “make Venezuela great again,” when asked repeatedly about the specifics of America’s role, including a possible timetable, Trump gave few specifics.
“We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly. We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It will be paid for by the oil companies directly. They will be reimbursed for what they’re doing, but that’s going to be paid,” Trump said.
Later, a U.S. official told ABC News what it would look like for the U.S. to “run” Venezuela.
The official said top Trump officials will continue to diplomatically engage with those remaining in the Venezuelan government, that the administration will engage with oil executives to begin oil expansion in the country and that the U.S. military will remain postured and ready, and that the oil embargo would remain in effect.
American boots on the ground possible The president brushed off questions about concerns about the length and logistics of the U.S. operation.
Trump was asked about whether U.S. troops would be on the ground in order to “run” Venezuela and indicated he could use the military to make sure it’s run “properly.”
“Well, you know, they always say, ‘boots on the ground, oh.’ So, we’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said. “We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level. Actually, we’re not afraid of it. We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly.”
When pressed again later, Trump suggested that the only U.S. presence will pertain “to oil,” suggesting the presence will be American oil companies.
“We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground, and that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela, and it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused by that country,” he said.
The president also suggested that U.S. forces remain “ready” to carry out a “much bigger” second-wave attack on Venezuela.
Trump faced pushback from Democrats over his announcement.
“The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is leaving Congress Monday following a fallout with Trump, slammed the president over his actions.
“Americans disgust [sic] with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going,” she said in a statement. “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.”
When pressed about how taking the action in Venezuela is “America First,” Trump said that it was for the U.S. to surround itself with “good neighbors,” and “energy.”
Trump’s comments during the news conference were a far cry from his previous rhetoric in the weeks leading up to the strike in the Venezuelan capital, in which he condemned Maduro and his regime for allegedly contributing to drug trafficking, a charge Maduro has repeatedly denied..
Trump makes case using Monroe Doctrine The president has reaffirmed and expanded his policy of a modern version of the Monroe Doctrine declared in 1823, the notion that views America as the dominant leader in the Western Hemisphere.
“All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries, and not anymore, all the way back. It dated to the Monroe Doctrine,” he said.
“And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine,'” the president added, playing off his name.
Trump’s comments Saturday came after he released a message in December that he called the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, saying that “the American people — not foreign nations nor globalist institutions — will always control their own destiny in our hemisphere.”
Foreign leaders in Russia, Cuba and Russia denounced Saturday’s strike.
“Venezuela should be guaranteed the right to determine its own fate without any destructive, especially military intervention from outside. We reaffirm our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and support for the course of their Bolivarian leadership aimed at protecting the national interests and sovereignty of the country,” the Russian foreign ministry said in statement.
Trump does not back opposition leader When asked about whether he’d support opposition head María Corina Machado to become the country’s new leader, Trump dismissed the possibility.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” Trump said.
Machado put out a statement Saturday praising Maduro’s removal.
“Today we are ready to take over power. We remain vigilant, active, and organized until a democratic transition is concrete. A transition that needs ALL of us,” she said. “To Venezuelans inside our country, be ready to mobilize what we will soon communicate to you through our official channels.”
Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, told reporters last month that she would return to the country “when we believe the security conditions are right, and it won’t depend on whether or not the regime leaves.”
After winning the prize, she posted a statement on X where she dedicated the prize to “to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
When asked how soon he wanted to see Venezuela hold elections, Trump indicated that he wants to see if it happens quickly, but noted that it “takes a period of time.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez demanded Maduro’s return in a speech on state TV. Trump had said “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses, under false pretexts, and that the masks had fallen and it had only one objective: regime change in Venezuela — and the capture of our energy, mineral, and natural resources,” Rodriguez said in Spanish.
Ice chunks float in the Hudson River in front of the skyline of midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City as seen from Hoboken, New Jersey, Jan. 26, 2026. (Gary Hershorn/ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — A potential blizzard is headed to the Southeast this weekend, impacting the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee.
The storm will begin Fridayevening with snow over Appalachia, along the Tennessee/North Carolina border and western Virginia.
On Saturday, the snow is forecast to spread east into eastern Georgia and much of South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia.
The storm could bring powerful winds, which may lead to blizzard conditions. Visibility could be reduced to less than a quarter-mile.
While it is still too early to predict exact snow totals, it appears that much of northern South Carolina, nearly all of North Carolina and southern Virginia will get 3 to 8 inches of snow between Friday night and Sunday morning. Some areas could even near 1 foot of snow, especially along the North Carolina coast where the heavy snow may last longer.
Along with a full moon causing naturally higher tides, large waves produced by the storm may lead to destructive beach erosion and coastal flooding, with 2 to 4 feet water inundation possible from the South Carolina coast to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the coasts of Virginia and Maryland.
The Northeast coast may escape this storm mostly unscathed.
Those along the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City should see little to no snow accumulation, but they will see gusty winds up to 40 mph on Sunday morning.
A few inches of snow is possible on the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey, as well as New York’s Long Island and Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.
But if the storm moves slightly west, 3 to 6 inches of snow and blizzard conditions could strike the I-95 corridor from Connecticut to Boston to Maine.
On Friday, the the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to hit minus 13 degrees in Minneapolis. On Saturday, the wind chill is forecast to drop to 2 degrees in Atlanta and minus 1 in New York City.
That cold is also spreading south to Florida.Record lows are possible across the Sunshine State on Sunday, including 20 degrees in Tallahassee, 23 degrees in Jacksonville and 25 in Orlando.
