On January 2, 2025, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a forecast that warned of an approaching major winter storm expected to impact several regions of the continental United States, describing it as a "brutal mess". The NWS forecast outlined expectations for heavy snowfall and significant icing across several geographical regions, ranging from the central Great Plains to the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, before reaching the Mid-Atlantic region. The forecast predicted 60-90 percent chance of accumulations reaching at least 6 in (15 cm) in the central Great Plains and central Mississippi Valley regions, and a significant icing event primarily impacting eastern Kansas through the Ozarks before impacting the lower Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and the southern Appalachians. The system itself originated in the Northeast Pacific Ocean and first made landfall during the afternoon on January 3 along the West Coast of the United States.
By January 4, a low-pressure system organized over the Texas Panhandle region and Oklahoma. This system interacted with below-average temperatures already established across the Central Plains and Midwest. A "potent" mid-level low was forecast to track from Kansas to Virginia and North Carolina over a 48-hour period. The system's warm side was predicted to generate severe thunderstorm conditions across the Lower Mississippi Valley, causing the Storm Prediction Center to issue an Enhanced Risk (level 3 of 5) from northeastern Louisiana into western Mississippi for January 5, with potential for tornadoes, large hail, and damaging straight-line winds.
