On Friday, January 23, and continuing into Monday, January 26, Winter Storm Fern, a major winter storm, brought heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain, as well as dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills to multiple states, ranging from the southern plains to the eastern United States. Southern states, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, experienced power outages as a result of ice and downed trees. A band of states from New Mexico to New England experienced significant snowfall, and sleet accumulated in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Extremely cold temperatures are forecast for most of the country through the next several days.
Beginning on January 23, President Trump began issuing emergency declarations, to include the following:
The emergency declarations authorize Public Assistance (assistance for nonfederal governments and nonprofits) for emergency protective measures. This may include assistance for costs incurred for emergency power restoration of public and nonprofit utilities, search and rescue, emergency sheltering, and the provision of emergency food, water, and medical supplies. Under the authorities of these declarations, FEMA reported that it has also deployed specialized teams to certain affected states to support state and local emergency managers.
As of Monday, January 26, FEMA did not indicate that any governor or tribal chief executive had requested a major disaster declaration for Winter Storm Fern. However, the situation is ongoing and the President may declare emergencies in other states, or major disasters superseding these declarations, including if states demonstrate that they do not have the capacity to effectively respond to the storm without federal assistance. Major disasters for snow assistance may be authorized based on findings that an affected county has a record or near-record snowfall (see below) or is contiguous to a county that meets the criteria. Snowstorms resulting in damage of sufficient severity and magnitude (such as damage to infrastructure) may also warrant major disaster assistance.
Information about the 2026 Winter Storm and related declarations is available on FEMA's incident web page.
FEMA uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) to identify the historical one-, two-, and three-day snowfall records for each county. FEMA also uses NOAA daily snowfall reports to evaluate snow assistance requests. For current snowfall incidents, FEMA uses snowfall measurements taken at National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Network Stations, but also accepts other measurements considered accurate by the NWS.
FEMA provides three major categories of disaster assistance, some of which may be available pursuant to an emergency declaration and/or a major disaster declaration:
The forms of assistance authorized by a declaration may vary by the designated areas, per the declaration (subject to amendment). The President can also amend emergency and major disaster declarations to decrease the cost-share requirements for PA.
Emergency protective measures, such as sheltering and search and rescue, may be authorized in either a major disaster or emergency declaration. Under a Stafford Act major disaster declaration, FEMA may also provide PA for eligible snow-related activities—including snow removal, de-icing, salting, snow dumps, and road sanding—and other eligible activities essential to eliminate or lessen immediate threats to life, public health, and safety. FEMA may authorize assistance for reconstruction depending on the nature and scope of the incident.
While it is not the only source of federal funding for disaster assistance, FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is the primary funding source for federal government response and recovery activities. For this reason, its level of unobligated funds is often used as shorthand for the overall availability of federal resources for response and recovery.
According to FEMA, as of January 26, 2026, the DRF has at least $7.13 billion in unobligated resources in the major disasters portion of the DRF.