https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/18/weather/frigid-cold-us-flooding-tuesday-hnk/i...





By Hanna Park, Robert Shackelford and Mary Gilbert, CNN

5 minute read
Updated 2:34 AM EST, Wed February 19, 2025


Dangerously cold conditions will impact over 60 million Americans between Wednesday and the weekend spanning a large swath of the US and setting the stage for widespread disruptions from a winter storm.

Arctic air is interacting with a strengthening storm system to bring hazardous winter weather to the central US, which will eventually reach the mid-Atlantic coast. The bitter cold and snow will also complicate recovery efforts in parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, where communities are still reeling from deadly floods caused by a storm over the weekend.

At least 15 people have died from last weekend’s storm, including two in West Virginia and 12 in Kentucky. One person remained missing in the storm’s aftermath in West Virginia Tuesday morning, according to Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Two others appeared to have died from hypothermia in Kentucky’s Jefferson County, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a Tuesday morning news conference.

“That should tell all of us the weather conditions are as dangerous as that water is,” Beshear said, referring to the ongoing brutal cold and snow coming to the state.

The cold air will get more intense and expansive throughout the week and about three-quarters of the US population is expected to experience below-freezing conditions by Friday.