Winter Storm Ezra – Multi-hazard winter storm forecast to bring blizzard conditions and significant icing to Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast
Winter Storm Ezra is forecast to bring severe winter weather across large parts of the United States from Sunday through Tuesday, December 28–30, 2025, as it moves from the Great Lakes into southern Canada. Heavy snow, blizzard conditions, and hazardous icing are forecast across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and interior Northeast.
Snowfall totals of over 30 cm (1 foot) are expected in parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, while ice accumulations of up to 13 mm (0.5 inches) are forecast across interior New England through Tuesday.
Image credit: Tropical Tidbits
A strong, multi-hazard winter storm, driven by an Arctic air mass descending from Canada and interacting with anomalously warm and moist air entrenched across the southern states, is affecting much of the northern United States this weekend.
The system is intensifying as it tracks from the Midwest toward southern Canada from Sunday through Tuesday, producing widespread hazardous weather from the Plains to New England, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). This system has been named Winter Storm Ezra by The Weather Channel.
Ezra is forecast to undergo rapid intensification by midday on Monday, with the minimum central pressure dropping to around 975 hPa.
Blizzard conditions are developing across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, with wind gusts exceeding 65 km/h (40 mph) and heavy snowfall, leading to whiteout conditions and dangerous travel.
Over 30 cm (1 foot) of lake-effect snow is forecast for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with localized totals of up to 60 cm (2 feet) possible along the south shore of Lake Superior. Additional heavy lake-effect snow is expected downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario from Monday afternoon into Tuesday as strong westerly flow becomes established.
Significant icing is forecast farther east, particularly across northern Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and the interior Northeast.
A prolonged wintry mix is forecast to produce ice accretions of 6–13 mm (0.25–0.50 inches), creating treacherous travel conditions and increasing the risk of scattered power outages. Freezing rain is forecast to spread into interior New England Sunday night before transitioning to rain in many areas on Monday as warmer air advances northward.
Wind gusts above 65 km/h (40 mph) are forecast across the Great Lakes, while temperatures across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest fall well below 0 °C (32 °F). Wind chills as low as -34 °C (-30 °F) are likely in parts of North Dakota and northern Minnesota by Monday morning.
Along the storm’s southern flank, rain and embedded thunderstorms are forecast to extend from the central Plains into the Midwest and eastern United States.
The combination of heavy snow, freezing rain, strong winds, and sharply falling temperatures is expected to cause travel disruptions, hazardous road conditions, and localized power outages across a broad swath of the country.
Impacts from the storm are expected to persist through Tuesday, as Arctic air continues to spread eastward behind the departing low-pressure system.
I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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