Good morning, I'm Cedric and this is your EM Morning Brief for Friday, January 23, 2026 Dangerous Cold Grips parts of the Midwest and Northern Plains this morning.

The National Weather Service holds extreme cold warnings in places like Chicago and North Dakota with wind chills as low as -25 degrees to -45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Winter weather also trends south and east.

Watches and warnings expand from eastern North Carolina into Texas where an arctic front brings a risk of icing and slick roads Saturday into Sunday.

Overnight USGS reports a magnitude 4.7 earthquake south of Evanston, Wyoming.

No damage reports so far but light shaking is felt in the region.

FEMA meanwhile opens a 90 day appeal window today for updated flood maps in Central Lane County, Oregon and per DHS cisa, four known exploited vulnerabilities were added yesterday.

Lets run through the states Texas South Central Texas moves into a winter storm warning from Saturday morning through Sunday with an arctic front late tonight bringing freezing rain and sleet that could glaze roads and bridges.

Extreme cold warnings advisories are posted in parts of the state.

Coastal SE Texas is also briefing residents on hard freeze precautions heading into the weekend.

New York Western and upstate New York remain under winter headlines.

A winter storm warning continues today for Oswego, Jefferson and Lewis counties with a winter storm watch expanding late Saturday night through Monday for multiple counties including the Buffalo Metro as another system approaches.

Illinois Chicago and much of northern central Illinois start the day under an extreme cold warning, transitioning to a cold weather advisory by noon that runs into Saturday morning.

Wind chills of -20 degrees to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Accumulating snow late Saturday into Sunday will likely create slick travel.

North Carolina Eastern North Carolina is under a winter storm watch from Saturday afternoon into Sunday.

The NWS highlights potential for significant ice in parts of the watch area with power outages and tree damage possible.

North Dakota Extreme cold warnings continue this morning across portions of the state with life threatening wind chills.

Oklahoma A high impact winter storm arrives today into the weekend with Snow north of I40 and a wintry mix.

South icing could create hazardous travel Friday night through Saturday.

ODOT crews are pre treating and urging motorists to carry winter kits if travel is unavoidable.

Separately, the state extended emergency hours of service for propane deliveries through at least January 27th to support heating needs during the cold spell.

Oregon FEMA updates flood maps for Central Lane county with a 90 day appeal period running January 23rd to April 16th, 2026.

Property owners in Creswell, Cottage Grove, Eugene and nearby areas should review their preliminary zones, understand insurance implications and file appeals or comments if warranted.

Wyoming USGS confirms a magnitude 4.7 earthquake about 40 km south of Evanston on Thursday with light shaking reported.

No damage or aftershock concerns from officials at this time.

DHS CISA added four known exploited vulnerabilities to its kev catalog on January 22.

Public sector and critical infrastructure admins should validate exposure and apply mitigations per kev.

All other states have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.

That's the brief for Friday, January 23rd.

Source links are in the show notes below.

Stay safe.