This winter storm that has shut down flights and railways is not your typical snow storm. So far it has left tens of thousands of customers without power and put over 40 million people under blizzard warnings across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic which intensified early today. This storm is not yet officially a blizzard, but it’s close. A blizzard occurs when winds are at least 35 miles per hour, snow is blowing or falling, and visibility is a quarter mile or less and all for at least three hours. The storm is expected to bring some of the most severe weather to eastern Massachusetts, stirring up strong winds in places such as Cape Cod and Nantucket where isolated gusts could reach over 70mph.

This storm has been named Winter Storm Hernando by The Weather Channel. Snowfall rates up to 3 inches per hour have been observed on Long Island, and blizzard conditions have been confirmed by the National Weather Service in multiple locations, including Boston and Newark, New Jersey. This snow has been at times, accompanied by lightning strikes. More than 14,000 U.S. flights had been disrupted by the storm. About 8,858 flights were canceled, with another 5,196 delayed. The National Weather Service warned that the storm could bring wind gusts up to 55 mph, creating whiteout conditions that "will make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening". In addition to this, authorities have warned against shoveling snow due to the health risks posed by exerting yourself in such conditions, with one man in Tennessee tragically passing away due to a heart attack he suffered while shoveling snow.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office identified the man as Austin Tucker Martin, 21, from Cameron North Carolina. Martin was reported missing within the last few days. A woman identifying herself as Mr. Tucker’s mother, Melissa Martin, had posted on Facebook on Sunday morning that her son was missing and that he had last been heard from on Saturday at 7:51 p.m. He’s believed to have purchased his shotgun while driving south, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, and a box for the weapon was later discovered in the man’s vehicle. Martin was struggling with a form of mental illness and had become increasingly interested in Jeffrey Epstein and the idea of a government cover-up of crimes related to the sex offender, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Martin reportedly drove into the gates of Mar-a-Lago as another vehicle was leaving. The president is yet to respond officially to Sunday’s incident, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the Secret Service’s quick thinking in a post on X. No law enforcement officials were harmed in the incident, authorities said. Investigators are still looking into what, specifically, his motivations and intentions were when he showed up to Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and fuel canister.

Lead editor for The Lamplight