Tips for staying warm and safe in winter weather
When it’s freezing outside, using a DIY warm compress or changing the direction of your ceiling fan can make all the difference.
Sen. Ted Cruz was spotted on a plane from Texas to California as his home state braced for a severe winter storm.
Political strategist Shea Jordan Smith posted a photo later that day of the Texas Republican aboard Plane X, bound for Southern California on Jan. 20.
Cruz’s office said in a statement to USA TODAY that the trip was a “pre-planned work trip planned several weeks in advance.”
The statement added that the senator plans to return to Texas ahead of the storm.
The post claims the flight was bound for Laguna Beach, but the bustling beach town south of Anaheim doesn’t have an airport. John Wayne Airport in Orange County is the closest aviation hub. USA TODAY reached out to Smith to clarify the plane’s destination.
The photo was compared to a 2021 incident in which the senator fled the state for Cancun, Mexico, during a winter storm. Mr. Cruz said at the time that the trip was “obviously a mistake.”
When devastating flash floods hit the Texas Hill Country in 2025, Mr. Cruz was out of the country on a pre-planned vacation to Athens, Greece. Mr. Cruz booked a return flight “immediately,” his office said at the time.
Winter storm threatens large swathes of the country
Forecasters are warning of a major winter storm that is expected to spread across a 3,000-mile stretch of the country from Texas to the Northeast later this week.
“Confidence continues to increase that a widespread, severe winter storm will impact much of the southern and eastern parts of the country from Friday (January 23) through Sunday (January 25),” the National Weather Service announced on January 20.
Specifically, a widespread winter storm will bring heavy snow, sleet, and dangerous freezing rain across a wide area from the southern Rockies/Plains region and the South Central region starting Friday and moving toward the East Coast into Sunday.
According to AccuWeather, where the storm will form and its path will determine exactly where the snow and ice will fall. Residents from Colorado and Wyoming to the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts are being asked to stay alert to the latest forecasts, especially due to the potential ice threat.
Contributor: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
