English: A strong winter storm swept across the United States in mid-January 2024—the second to wallop the region since the first of the year. The system was accompanied by a large mass of Arctic air, which spilled south from Canada and lingered for several days over much of the contiguous United States. The combination brough bitterly cold temperatures, freezing rains, howling winds, and snow that extended from the Pacific Northwest all the way to the East Coast, and from the tip of Maine to the Florida Panhandle and southern Texas.

As the airmass came south, sub-zero air temperatures settled over Montana and the Dakotas on January 13 and 14. Air temperatures at a National Weather Service station in Billings, Montana, reached -30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 degrees Celsius) on January 13, the lowest temperature recorded there since the site was established in 1999. The Badlands National Park, located in South Dakota, made the unusual decision to close on January 13-14 due to frigid temperatures.

Wind chill—which describes how cold it feels to human skin due to wind—in Montana and the Dakotas reached as low as -60°F (-51°C). A wind chill of -20°F (-29°C) can cause frostbite in as few as 30 minutes. As of January 14, over 95 million citizens were under a wind chill advisory, according to the weather service. Dangerously cold temperatures remained over large swaths of the U.S. for several days.

Whopping snowfall rates of up to 2 inches an hour, along with fierce winds, brought whiteout conditions to several states, including eastern Iowa where the early side of the storm brought 12-14 inches of snow on January 12. By the next day, whipping winds brought gusts at over 50 mph in some spots, blowing and drifting snow brought whiteout conditions through the morning of January 14, causing most I-80 and other roads to become impassable.

In Nebraska, snowfall started on January 11, dumping widespread totals of 8-11 inches of light, fluffy snow that easily was blown into drifts. As wind speeds increased and snow continued, visibility dropped to a few feet and roads became entirely impassable in the eastern section of the state. The Governor declared a state of emergency on January 13 due to weather impacts. According to the National Weather Service, more than 1,200 people were rescued from vehicles trapped in the snow during the week, with temperatures dropping to the -30°F to -50°F (-34.4°C to -45.5°C) as snow diminished.

On January 17, The Weather Channel announced that snow had been seen in every state in the United States this winter, including Florida and Hawaii. Snow occurred earlier in the winter at high elevations in Hawaii, while the mid-January storm brought flurries to the Florida Panhandle on January 16.

On January 16, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of widespread snow across the Central United States. In this type of image, snow appears bright blue, open land is tan, vegetation looks green, and deep water is dark blue. Clouds usually look white, but high, cold clouds filled with ice crystals may also be tinted bright blue.

The image is centered on Nebraska and shows parts of 24 states. While snow amounts are light in the southern states and appear to be absent in Texas, dense snow covers the northern states, especially in the central region. Clouds are visible over the far northern and western states, and their sweeping appearance and blue tint suggest that they mark the leading edge of a third winter storm that is due to cross the United States in the upcoming week.