Dangerous winter storm system sprawls across U.S.

A massive winter storm warning stretched from Elizabeth City, N.C., to Laredo, Texas, the National Weather Service reported on Tuesday. In addition to dangerously cold weather, the rare storm will bring heavy snows, some sleet, and even freezing rain to the Gulf Coast and Southeast, the weather service said.

Meanwhile, cold and winter weather advisories blanketed much of the United States from Washington, D.C. to parts of southern Montana. Extreme cold weather smothered much or all of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Parts of North Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska were also under extreme weather warnings on Tuesday morning.

What does this look like? Some areas were slated to experience temperatures through Tuesday afternoon between -10 and 20 degrees the National Weather Service said. Those forecasted temperatures didn’t include calculations factoring for wind chill.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about the presidential inauguration moving indoors due to cold weather.