Donald Trump mocks global warming as a historic winter storm engulfs much of the US, forcing federal agencies and states to prepare for dangerous cold, snow and power outages.
US President Donald Trump has once again cast doubt on climate change science, using forecasts of a massive winter storm to mock global warming fears, even as federal agencies prepare for one of the most widespread cold events in recent years.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump questioned the reality of global warming as meteorologists warned that a record cold wave could hit up to 40 states. He described the coming freeze as unprecedented and challenged what he called “environmental insurrectionists” to explain how extreme cold could exist alongside rising global temperatures.
The remarks came as a sprawling winter system began sweeping across the United States, threatening millions of people with heavy snow, freezing rain, dangerous wind chills and prolonged power outages. Forecasters say the storm will stretch more than 2,000 miles from Texas to New England, disrupting travel and daily life across vast regions of the country.
Federal agencies mobilise
Despite the president’s comments, the White House said Trump was being regularly briefed on the situation and that the administration had activated a coordinated federal response. Officials said a whole-of-government approach was being used as the storm intensified across the Midwest, the South and the East Coast.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the storm was capable of producing life-threatening conditions, including heavy snow, ice accumulation and extreme wind chills that could push temperatures well below zero in many states. She said power outages, road closures and major disruptions to infrastructure were likely in the days ahead.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that FEMA had already deployed incident management teams to Louisiana, Texas and Virginia, with additional teams on standby for rapid deployment at the request of governors. Twenty-eight Urban Search and Rescue teams have also been placed on alert.
‘Prepare for days without power’
Emergency supplies have been pre-positioned across the South and East to support communities that could be cut off by snow or ice. These include millions of ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, blankets and hundreds of generators to support hospitals and emergency shelters.
Residents have been urged to prepare for extended power outages, with officials warning that heating, communications and transport could be severely affected. Authorities also cautioned against unsafe heating practices, stressing that indoor use of generators or gas stoves could lead to deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
Travel has already been badly affected, with thousands of flights cancelled and highways declared hazardous or impassable in several states. At least 15 states, including Texas, New York, Virginia and New Jersey, have declared states of emergency to mobilise resources and speed up response efforts.
Climate debate reignited
Trump’s remarks have reignited debate over climate policy, with critics accusing him of using short-term weather events to dismiss long-term climate trends. During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, a decision he repeated at the start of his second term in 2025. He has continued to champion fossil fuel expansion under his “drill, baby, drill” agenda, rolling back clean energy initiatives.
Climate advocacy groups warned that extreme cold events, like heatwaves, are becoming more disruptive as climate systems grow increasingly unstable. They said keeping power and heating running during severe winter storms was a matter of life and death for vulnerable households.
As the storm continues to barrel eastwards, forecasters say the coming days will test emergency systems, infrastructure resilience and political leadership across the country, with millions of Americans bracing for a long and bitter freeze.
