Are We Prepared for Another Winter Storm?

In this past weekend, a large and unusually intense winter storm swept across much of eastern Canada and the United States, affecting a geographic corridor stretching from the southern Plains to New England and from Ontario into Atlantic Canada. The system combined heavy snowfall, ice accumulation, and extreme cold, producing widespread disruptions to power systems, transportation networks, and municipal services. At its peak, winter storm and extreme cold alerts covered millions of people across the US, while snowfall totals exceeded 50 cm in parts of southern Ontario and the Northeast. Toronto recorded one of its snowiest January days on record, contributing to what became the city’s snowiest January in nearly nine decades.

Winter storms are not new to North America. What made this event notable was its scale, intensity, spread and compound impacts. Snow, ice, and prolonged cold interacted across multiple systems simultaneously, placing the storm firmly in the category of a system-wide stress test. It offers a clear lens into how well cities, provinces, states, and federal systems are adapting to a changing climate.

How Was the Storm Formed?

The climatic backdrop to this storm is well established. As the climate warms, the atmosphere can hold approximately 7 percent more water vapour for every degree C of warming. In winter, this additional moisture can translate into heavier snowfall or freezing rain when temperatures hover near the freezing point. At the same time, the Arctic is warming two to four times faster than the global average, a process known as Arctic amplification. This rapid warming weakens the temperature gradient between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, increasing instability in the jet stream and raising the likelihood of prolonged cold-air outbreaks farther south.

The result is not the disappearance of winter, but greater volatility in winter weather. Cold seasons are increasingly characterized by fewer but more intense events, with heavier precipitation, sharper temperature swings, and longer lasting disruptions. This storm fits this pattern. It was not defined solely by cold temperatures, but by the combination of high atmospheric moisture, temperature variability, and storm duration, which together amplified impacts across infrastructure, mobility, and energy systems.

Preparation: Alerts, Warnings, and Early Activation

In the days leading up to the storm, meteorological agencies issued extensive winter storm warnings and extreme cold alerts across large portions of the continent. In Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada warned of heavy snowfall and dangerous wind chills across Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. Major cities such as Toronto and Montreal activated winter response protocols, including snow-removal staging, transit readiness measures, and public communications.

Map of weather advisory and statements issued by Environment Canada ahead of January 24-26 snowstorm (posted on January 22, 2026)

In the United States, winter weather advisories and cold alerts extended across more than 30 states, from the southern Plains through the Midwest and into the Northeast. Governors in more than a dozen states issued emergency declarations, enabling pre-positioning of equipment, activation of emergency management frameworks, and access to intergovernmental support. These early actions also gave households and businesses critical lead time to prepare supplies, adjust travel plans, and anticipate potential power outages.

From a preparedness perspective, this phase largely functioned as intended. Forecasts were timely, warnings were clear, and governments had advance notice. This reflects meaningful progress in weather prediction and risk communication over the past decade, driven by improved climate models, satellite observations, and digital dissemination tools.

During the Storm: Governance in Action

Once the storm arrived, the effectiveness of governance and operational systems was put to the test. Provincial and city emergency operations centres coordinated transportation departments, utilities, law enforcement, and health services. Snowplows and de-icing crews were deployed at scale, with priority given to highways, emergency routes, hospitals, and public transit corridors. Cities with more winter experience demonstrated relatively high operational capacity. In Toronto, despite record or near-record snowfall in parts of the city, municipal crews worked continuously to keep priority roads and transit routes functional. While secondary streets required several days to fully recover, essential services were largely maintained. This underscores an important distinction in resilience: success does not mean zero disruption, but the ability to sustain critical functions and restore services in a predictable and transparent manner. The city has learned their lesson from last winter, when snow removal was significantly delayed.

A person cross-skied on street in Toronto, as the snowstorm swept the region on January 25, 2026 (By Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

By contrast, parts of the southern United States experienced disproportionate disruption, particularly from ice accumulation. In regions where freezing rain coated trees and transmission lines, power outages affected hundreds of thousands of households. These impacts were not primarily the result of governance failures, but of infrastructure systems designed for milder winters, revealing structural vulnerabilities to sustained freezing and ice loading.

Immediate Impacts on People and Systems

Transportation systems were among the most visible casualties. Tens of thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed across North America, with major airport hubs in the Northeast, Midwest, and southern Ontario experiencing cascading disruptions. Rail services were suspended in multiple regions, and highway accidents increased sharply during peak snowfall and ice conditions. The storm also disrupted just-in-time supply chains, delaying deliveries of food, fuel, and medical supplies.

Toronto Pearson Airport on January 25, 2025 (Toronto Pearson/X)

Energy systems proved to be a critical pressure point. Winter storms already account for the largest share of weather-related power outages in North America, and this event reinforced that trend. At the storm’s peak, more than one million electricity customers in the United States were without power. Prolonged outages led to secondary impacts, including frozen pipes, loss of heating, school and business closures, and increased demand for emergency shelters. These cascading effects illustrate how climate hazards translate into economic and social risk through tightly coupled infrastructure systems.

Recovery: Returning to “Normal”

Recovery unfolded unevenly across regions. In dense urban areas with strong institutional capacity, power restoration and road clearing progressed steadily over several days. Major airports and transit systems also gradually returned to near-normal operations, hopefully within a week. Emergency declarations were also lifted as conditions stabilized.

Nonetheless, in more rural or infrastructure-constrained areas, particularly where ice damage was severe, recovery took longer. Some communities faced extended periods without reliable power or safe transportation. The recovery phase also revealed a recurring pattern in climate-related disasters: the cost of disruption often exceeds the cost of physical damage. Lost productivity, business interruption, emergency overtime, and deferred municipal services placed significant strain on local and state budgets. Quantifying these indirect losses is essential for accurately assessing climate risk and informing future investment decisions.

Resilience: Pragmatic Steps for Climate Preparedness

Viewed through a climate adaptation lens, the storm highlights three core lessons. First, anticipation and early warning systems have improved substantially, providing valuable lead time. Second, response capacity varies sharply by region, reflecting historical climate exposure and infrastructure design assumptions. Third, recovery speed is the true measure of resilience, determining whether disruption remains manageable or escalates into prolonged economic and social harm.

Aftermath of snowstorm in Toronto on January 27, 2026

Improving resilience to winter extremes does not require reinventing governance, but it does require targeted, pragmatic actions. Power systems can be strengthened through ice-resistant design standards, selective undergrounding in vulnerable corridors, enhanced vegetation management, and expanded use of distributed energy resources and microgrids to support critical facilities during outages. These measures reduce outage duration and societal impact, even when failures occur.

Transportation resilience can be improved by prioritizing heated rail switches, advanced de-icing technologies at airports, and data-driven snow-removal systems that dynamically allocate resources based on real-time conditions and forecasts. Building codes also matter. Updating standards to account for higher snow loads, freeze–thaw stress, and prolonged cold reduces downstream damage from roof failures and burst pipes. At the same time, codes must evolve to address increasingly extreme summer heat, ensuring resilience across seasons rather than shifting risk from winter to summer.

Finally, resilience planning must explicitly integrate social vulnerability. Mapping populations at risk from cold exposure, ensuring backup power for healthcare and elder-care facilities, and maintaining robust networks of warming centres are low-cost, high-impact measures. Clear and consistent public communication before, during, and after storms builds trust and reduces avoidable harm.

Adapting to the New Normal

This snowstorm was not just another weather event. It was a demonstration of how climate change is reshaping risk profiles at the city, provincial / state, and federal levels. Adaptation is no longer about preparing for rare anomalies, but about designing systems that function reliably under increasingly volatile extremes. Snowstorms make this challenge tangible. They reveal where preparedness is working, where infrastructure is misaligned with reality, and where recovery can be accelerated.

Winter extremes are not the opposite of global warming; they are part of climate change’s evolving expression. How governments respond, recover, and improve after such storms will increasingly determine whether climate adaptation succeeds in the everyday functioning of communities and critical systems, instead of merely as a strategy or roadmap on paper.