Live updates: Rare severe storm outbreak targets East Coast, historic blizzard paralyzes the Midwest
Stay informed with real-time coverage as a dangerous severe weather outbreak threatens the East Coast with destructive 75-mph winds and tornadoes. Meanwhile, a historic blizzard continues to paralyze the Midwest and Great Lakes, where record-breaking snow and whiteout conditions have shut down major interstates and grounded thousands of flights.
A new Tornado Watch has been issued for parts of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina until 2 p.m. ET.
The severe weather threat is increasing across the Deep South as the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Tornado Watch for portions of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina until 2 p.m. ET.
This watch covers a region currently being hammered by a fast-moving squall line, with atmospheric conditions supporting both damaging wind gusts and the potential for a few tornadoes.
Residents in cities from Tallahassee to Savannah to Columbia should remain on high alert through the early afternoon, as these fast-moving storms are capable of producing quick spin-ups with very little lead time.
As the morning progresses, the scale of the massive March storm's impact on air travel has reached staggering new heights. According to FlightAware, as of 8:00 a.m. ET, a total of 17,766 U.S. flights have been disrupted since Sunday, creating a massive backlog that is expected to haunt travelers through Tuesday.
FlightAware MiseryMap showing flight disruptions at major airport hubs across America.
This cumulative total includes 5,331 outright cancellations and 12,435 delays, as airlines struggle to navigate a volatile combination of historic blizzard conditions in the Midwest and a dangerous line of severe thunderstorms tearing through the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
With major hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Houston already facing early morning ground stops, these numbers are climbing by the minute, turning what was supposed to be a peak spring break travel week into a massive test of patience for millions of passengers.
FOX Weather meteorologists Britta Merwin and Craig Herrera break down today's rare severe weather threat along the East Coast.
A ground stop is in effect for Charlotte Douglas International Airport until 8:30 a.m. ET.
Thunderstorms have triggered a morning ground stop at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), bringing a halt to inbound traffic from across the Southeast.
The FAA issued the freeze as storms move through the Carolinas, with the current stop in effect until 8:30 a.m. ET.
With over 15,000 disruptions already clogging the national aviation system, travelers at the American Airlines hub should prepare for significant gate holds and a ripple effect of delays well into the afternoon.
Travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) are facing fresh disruptions as the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a new ground stop for flights heading into the Houston hub.
The FAA has ordered a ground stop for Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport until 9:00 a.m. ET.
High winds trailing a powerful cold front have made operations unsafe, keeping the freeze in effect until 9:00 a.m. ET.
With north winds currently gusting up to 35 mph across the region, IAH joins a growing list of major airports battling extreme weather, adding further pressure to a spring break travel window already strained by more than 5,000 national cancellations.
If it feels like the weather is having a collective identity crisis, you aren't imagining it. Our massive March storm is the byproduct of a massive atmospheric collision fueled by two extreme opposites.
Just last week, we witnessed a full collapse of the Polar Vortex. Normally, this swirling pool of frigid air is penned up at the North Pole by a strong, circular jet stream.
However, a major stratospheric warming event caused the vortex to split and buckle, effectively opening the freezer door and spilling a core of Arctic air deep into the American Heartland.
A huge dip in the jet stream (trough) has allowed cold air to dive toward the Gulf Coast while intense heat bakes the West.
This disruption threw the jet stream into absolute chaos. Instead of a steady West-to-East flow, the jet stream has become highly wavy and fragmented, acting like a high-speed conveyor belt that is currently dragging that Arctic chill directly into a clash with record-breaking warmth.
As the jet stream dipped south, it tapped into a marine heat wave in the Gulf of America, where water temperatures are currently sitting as much as 10°F above normal.
This record-warm moisture is the high-octane fuel for the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes we're seeing in the South, while the cold side of the same jet stream is manufacturing the historic blizzard conditions in the North.
When you combine a broken Polar Vortex with a fuel-injected Gulf, you get the volatile, split-screen extreme weather currently stretching from Texas to the Great Lakes.
A life-threatening blizzard is slamming the Midwest and Great Lakes with heavy snow, power outages and dangerous wind gusts.
FOX Weather Meteorologist Jane Minar is LIVE in Traverse City, Michigan this morning with the latest
FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray is LIVE in Marquette, Michigan today as howling wind gusts and heavy snow slam the state.
For the first time in over 15 years, a Blizzard Warning is in effect for Milwaukee and much of Southeast Wisconsin.
The National Weather Service issued the rare alert as the storm intensifies, bringing a combination of blinding snow and powerful wind gusts of up to 45 mph.
Blizzard Warnings are in effect for more than 9 million Americans this morning.
The last time the Brew City faced a Blizzard Warning of this magnitude was during the historic Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011, making this a generational weather event for the region.
The timing couldn't be worse for the Monday morning commute. Conditions have deteriorated rapidly, with visibility dropping to one-quarter mile or less as the storm transitions from a wet, heavy snow to a drier, wind-whipped variety.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has declared a Snow Emergency, closing all non-essential county facilities, including the courthouse and the Milwaukee County Zoo.
Residents are being urged to stay off the roads entirely, as plows struggle to keep up with the blinding whiteout conditions that are expected to persist until late afternoon today.
Travel across the heart of Iowa remains a dangerous impossibility this morning as Interstate 80 and Interstate 35 remain shuttered by the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Despite the snow tapering off in some areas, wind gusts of 50–60 mph are continuing to whip existing snow into ground blizzards, creating total whiteout conditions that have rendered the roads impassable.
Interstates 35 and 80 remain closed across Iowa as intense winds create whiteout conditions.
As of 5:30 a.m. CT, I-80 is closed in both directions for a massive stretch from Council Bluffs (mile marker 8) all the way to Iowa City (mile marker 240). Similarly, I-35 remains closed from Ames north to the Minnesota state line.
The Iowa State Patrol reports that hundreds of drivers were stranded overnight, with emergency crews working in near-zero visibility to clear multi-vehicle pileups.
Authorities are maintaining a "Travel Not Advised" alert for the majority of the state, warning that even as plows begin to make progress, the combination of sub-zero wind chills and drifting snow makes any time spent on the road potentially life-threatening.
A rare and dangerous weather setup is unfolding today as a powerful storm system pivots toward the Atlantic Seaboard.
A rare Level 4 of 5 severe storm threat zone has been issued for portions of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
FOX Weather meteorologists are tracking a surge of warm, humid air—with dew points reaching the 60s—climbing as far north as Pennsylvania. This moisture is acting like high-octane fuel for an incoming line of storms.
Because the winds high above the ground are moving at incredible speeds (over 60 mph), any thunderstorm that forms today will be moving extremely fast.
This creates a double threat: first, a risk of individual, rotating storms called supercells that could produce strong, long-track tornadoes; and second, a sweeping line of storms capable of causing widespread wind damage as they pull those high-altitude winds down to the ground.
The window of greatest concern opens early this afternoon and lasts through the evening commute.
The FOX Forecast Center is particularly worried about the "spin" in the atmosphere, which is currently at extreme levels. If we see any breaks in the clouds that allow the sun to heat the ground, the risk for intense tornadoes will increase significantly.
Whether it’s a lone rotating storm or a solid wall of wind, the entire region from North Carolina up through the Mid-Atlantic needs to be on high alert.
A ground stop has been ordered by the FAA for flights heading to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been brought to a standstill this morning as a Tornado Warning and intense severe storms triggered a mandatory ground stop for all inbound flights from airports in the Southeast.
The freeze, which is currently in effect until 7:30 a.m. ET, is causing a massive ripple effect across the Southeast, with the FAA halting traffic from major regional centers as a squall line moves directly over America's busiest airport.
For spring breakers and commuters alike, this adds another layer of chaos to a morning already plagued by over 5,000 national cancellations, as lightning and 60-mph wind gusts make ground operations at the Atlanta hub impossible.
For thousands of students and families, the dream of a relaxing spring break has turned into a terminal-floor reality.
A massive weather system is currently gutting flight schedules across the country, with more than 5,000 cancellations and 10,800 delays reported so far.
FlightAware data shows hundreds of flights have been canceled today at major hubs across the nation.
From college juniors stranded in Denver to families stuck in Chicago, the historic March storm is hitting during one of the year’s highest-demand travel windows, leaving almost zero empty seats for those trying to rebook.
The disruption is a perfect storm of bad timing. While the Midwest struggles to dig out from record-breaking snow, the East Coast is bracing for a line of violent thunderstorms that will trigger ground stops at major vacation gateways like Atlanta, Charlotte, and D.C. later today.
Adding to the stress, travelers are reporting two-hour security lines and "ghost town" terminals where wait times for airline customer service have surged past the five-hour mark.
If you're heading to the airport today, bring a charger and a lot of patience—this spring break is officially off to a rocky start.
In response to today's predicted rare and dangerous severe weather outbreak, DC Public Schools (DCPS) has announced that all schools will close two hours early today.
The decision comes as the Storm Prediction Center places the District under a Level 4 of 5 risk for severe thunderstorms—a classification the region hasn't seen in years.
By dismissing early, DCPS aims to get students and staff home before the most volatile window of weather begins.
FOX Weather meteorologists expect a powerful squall line to tear through the D.C. metro area between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., bringing the threat of destructive 80-mph wind gusts, large hail, and tornadoes.
All after-school programs, athletic events, and evening activities have also been canceled to ensure families can remain sheltered while the front passes.
Power outages have skyrocketed as the storm system sweeps eastward, with over 546,000 U.S. customers currently without electricity this Monday morning.
One customer = one address, so the number of Americans without power could be dramatically higher.
Latest power outage tracker showing significant outages across the eastern half of the United States. (PowerOutage.com)
Michigan is bearing the brunt of the infrastructure damage with more than 114,000 reported outages, largely due to the heavy, wet snow and high winds from the historic blizzard.
The outage map also highlights significant clusters across Ohio (61.5k), Texas (36.2k), and the Deep South, where severe thunderstorms and overnight tornadoes have downed lines across Mississippi and Georgia.
Utility crews face a grueling recovery effort as the volatile weather continues to move through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, threatening to push these numbers even higher as the day progresses.
To catch up on the initial wave of this historic March storm, you can revisit our coverage from Sunday.
We tracked the first confirmed tornadoes hitting Arkansas, the dramatic 137-year snow record set in Green Bay, and the emergency closure of I-80 and I-35 as blizzard conditions first took hold of the Heartland.
Click here to jump back to see yesterday's minute-by-minute updates.
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