arctic

At least 30 people are dead and more than half a million households woke up without electricity as a monster winter storm and life-threatening Arctic air mass gripped large swaths of the United States from New Mexico to Maine. Forecasters warned the northern half of the country could remain “continuously below freezing through February 1,” the National Weather Service said in a post on X, with “record low temperatures” hitting several southern states unaccustomed to severe winter weather. The sprawling system delivered a…

Winter storm shuts airports, knocks out power as Arctic cold grips eastern U.S. A powerful winter storm swept from the Ohio Valley and mid-South to New England with heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain, colliding with a deep Arctic blast that has locked in dangerous cold across much of the United States east of the Rockies. Winter storm warnings stretched across most of the eastern third of the country, covering about 118 million people, as the National Weather Service warned of widespread, prolonged travel disruptions and…

“Maybe climate change is not so bad in such a cold country as ours?” Vladimir Putin mused two decades ago, speculating that a few degrees of warming might cut fur-coat bills and boost harvests. The line, tossed off in 2003, reads today like an early draft of the world’s newest geopolitical script: As the Arctic thaws, the map of power is being redrawn — and it now runs straight through Greenland. That is the backdrop to a rupture between the United States and parts of NATO and the European Union that Canadian Prime Minister…

Arctic blast and sprawling winter storm set to sweep U.S., threatening crippling ice, travel chaos and power outages Snow has begun falling across parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in a frosty prelude to a major winter storm expected to merge with bitter Arctic air and engulf much of the United States this weekend from the Rockies to the Eastern Seaboard. Forecasts warn of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain coupled with dangerously low temperatures that could upend travel and trigger widespread power failures. At least 14…

Trump claims ‘total’ U.S. access to Greenland under NATO framework; Denmark insists sovereignty not up for discussion U.S. President Donald Trump said he has secured “total and permanent” American access to Greenland under a framework discussed with NATO, even as Denmark and Greenland stressed that sovereignty over the Arctic island is not on the table and European leaders vowed to step up regional security. News of the nascent deal emerged as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by…

Outside the White House, Denmark’s foreign minister jogged toward a car, fished out a pack of cigarettes and lit up. The video went viral: Lars Løkke Rasmussen, smoke curling from his lips, wordlessly offering a cigarette and lighter to his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt. The moment captured the mood of a week in which Europe, Denmark and Greenland were forced to contemplate something once unthinkable — deterring the United States from taking Greenland. “We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Rasmussen…

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — European allies began sending small military teams to Greenland as Denmark and NATO partners prepared Arctic exercises aimed at reassuring the United States about the island’s security while President Donald Trump presses a bid to take over the territory. A meeting in Washington among U.S., Danish and Greenland officials produced no rapid resolution to the standoff, but the sides agreed to form a working group to address a broad set of concerns. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and…

Europe’s deep freeze forced widespread travel cancellations and claimed at least six lives for a second straight day, as snow, ice and high winds disrupted transport networks from the North Sea to the Balkans and forecasters warned of more wintry weather ahead. Five people died in France after weather-related accidents on icy roads, authorities said, including three in black ice crashes in the southwest. A taxi driver died after veering into the Marne River in the Paris region; his passenger was being treated for…