A historic winter storm has forced school closings across the U.S. on Monday, January 26th, affecting students from Texas and California to the Northeast. This isn't just one region — schools across multiple states are closed due to severe weather including snow, sleet, freezing rain, and bitterly cold air.
Maryland's Baltimore County has closed all schools and offices for Monday and Tuesday, January 26–27, while Anne Arundel County public schools in Maryland are closed. In the Northeast, NYC public school buildings are closed Monday with classes moving remote. Multiple Texas districts including Channelview ISD, Conroe ISD, and Houston-area schools are closed Monday, January 26th due to inclement weather. North Carolina's Randolph County, Surry County, and other districts are closed due to hazardous road conditions. The pattern repeats across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Alabama, and beyond — 23 states and Washington D.C. have declared states of emergency.
The storm brought 10 to 20 inches of snow to the Plains and Northeast, plus dangerous sleet and freezing rain to the South. Wind chill values on Monday morning are expected to be within the minus 10 to minus 20 degree range, with some areas seeing even more dangerous conditions. Parts of Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are seeing up to 0.75 inches of ice accumulation. Nearly a million customers lost power Sunday as the winter system took hold. Ice storm warnings remain in effect across parts of the Southeast through Monday afternoon.
Nearly 270 million people across the central and eastern U.S. are under alert for dangerously cold temperatures as the snow ends Monday morning. Dallas, New Orleans, and Austin may hit record low temperatures Monday, with that brutal cold continuing into Tuesday. If your school hasn't announced a closure yet, check local alerts and district websites — more decisions are being made throughout the day. For context on how severe weather triggers closures, check out what snow emergency levels actually mean, and read more about Winter Storm Fern's historic impacts across the U.S.