How the polar vortex and warm ocean intensified a major US winter storm
Mathew Barlow, UMass Lowell and Judah Cohen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) A severe winter storm that brought crippling freezing rain, sleet and snow to a large part of the U.S. in late January 2026 left a mess in states from New Mexico to New England. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power across the