Most of the “big storm” people are talking about right now is a huge winter system called Winter Storm Fern that’s stretched across a large part of the United States this weekend.

Quick Scoop: Where the storm is

  • The core of the storm is running from the Southern Plains through the Mid-South into the Ohio Valley and toward the Northeast.
  • States seeing or expecting snow, ice, or a wintry mix include Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and then up through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England into parts of eastern Canada.
  • Heavy snow and dangerous ice are being reported or forecast along a roughly 2,000+ mile corridor from New Mexico/Texas all the way to Maine.

How it’s moving

  • Through today and tonight, the storm is sliding east and northeast: after hitting the South and lower Plains, it moves into the Mid‑Atlantic and then New England, bringing snow to cities like Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
  • Many areas along the path are under winter storm warnings or ice storm warnings, and more than a dozen states have declared emergencies because of expected power outages and travel disruption.

What this means for you

  • If you’re anywhere from the southern Plains across the lower Mississippi Valley up through the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast, you’re either in the storm now or about to feel it within about a day.
  • Biggest issues: hazardous roads, possible downed power lines from ice, and very cold air settling in behind the system.

If you tell me your nearest city or region, I can narrow this down to what’s most likely where you are right now (timing and whether it’s more snow or ice).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.