The Week in Meep: Winter is Deadly

Yes, I will look at New York City separately in a different post.

This is the point where I remind y’all that I don’t write these posts all at once, but build them up incrementally.

I didn’t want this one as a Mortality with Meep post, but a Week in Meep (open comments), because I’m just gathering the reports of deaths from the big storm and subsequent “bomb cyclone” weather.

There are a few videos out there.

27 Jan 2026, PBS News Hour:

30 Jan 2026, Good Morning America:

Snow-Shoveling Deaths: At Least 6

Probably more than that, but this is the number I gathered so far, with the help of Gemini:

At least 6 to 8 deaths in the immediate Northeast are directly attributed to cardiac events during snow removal.

• Long Island, NY: The death of Roger McGovern, 60, remains the most cited case in the region. He suffered a fatal heart attack while clearing snow at a church in Floral Park.

• Essex County, NJ: A 67-year-old man was found dead on Monday, January 26, with his shovel still in his hand after attempting to clear his driveway.

• Lehigh County, PA: The coroner confirmed 3 deaths (men ages 60, 78, and 84) all occurring on Sunday, January 25.

• Berks County, PA: A 78-year-old man in Alsace Township died from a cardiac event while shoveling on Monday evening.

Evidently, two other deaths are under investigation (that’s why the 6-8 deaths). For the record, in general, snow-shoveling cardiac deaths are fairly immediate, as are deaths due directly to exposure to cold.

28 Jan 2026, NY Post: Retired NYPD officer collapses, dies shoveling snow for churchgoers during devastating Northeast winter storm

A New York community is mourning the death of a retired NYPD officer who died after reportedly suffering a heart attack while shoveling snow during last weekend’s major winter storm.

Roger McGovern, a 60-year-old retired NYPD sergeant, collapsed while shoveling at Our Lady of Victory Church in Floral Park, Long Island on Sunday, according to ABC 7.

“They said that he was at church and he had a seizure [and] by the time he got to the hospital, he passed,” friend Kevin Troy told the outlet.

McGovern had walked a mile in the bitter cold to clear pathways for parishioners to attend Sunday mass at the same church where he served as an usher and member of the Knights of Columbus, CBS 2 reported.

I’m sorry, middle-aged guys, but walking a mile in super-duper cold and then shoveling snow should be left to 20-somethings.

Young men (and women), time to step up.

And, yeah, this is the physique one would expect:

RIP, Roger McGovern

Look, my beefy dudes. You are plenty strong. But your arteries are blocked, and the cold will kill you. If you want to show off feats of strength, wait for warmer months, at least.

Here is a summary table, helpfully compiled by Gemini:

Accidental Deaths: Vehicles

There were all sorts of deaths from the storm and weather.

Deaths Involving Snow-Clearing Machinery

Main risk factors: bad visibility, backing up the vehicle, peak operations, and other vehicles

• Norwood, MA: A 51-year-old woman, Noriko Rapley, was killed when a snowplow truck backed into her and her husband in an MBTA parking lot. Husband was injured.

• Dayton, OH: A worker was run over and killed by a fellow snowplow operator during peak cleanup operations.

• Fowler Township, OH: A snowmobile driver was struck and killed by a salt truck, highlighting the danger of mixed vehicle types in low-visibility conditions.

In the case of the snowmobile, there was not much for the snowplow operator to do. Snowmobiles are inherently dangerous (like motorcycles).

But often, snowplow operators are under a lot of pressure to get roads cleared rapidly, may be on long hours, work under low visibility conditions, and the worst bit: they do not necessarily work their plows regularly, so may be out of practice for good operational and safety practices.

So people get run over.

They also are not expecting people to be out in the awful weather… so back up without looking sometimes.

Roadway Crashes, Including Deaths

Main risk factors: bad visibility, bad roadway conditions (ice), too high speed, too many vehicles given the weather

• Tennessee: Reported at least 160 weather-related crashes in the first 48 hours. One confirmed fatality in Dyersburg, TN, involved a single-vehicle crash on icy roads.

• North Carolina: Over 400 traffic accidents were reported, leading to the closure of major stretches of I-26 and I-85. The later storm, 31 Jan 2026, led to a 100-vehicle pile-up.

• Mississippi: The Governor confirmed that hazardous travel conditions contributed to many of the state’s 23 total deaths, including multiple roadway fatalities as Arctic air froze the heavy rain into “black ice.” There is over a week of press releases from the governor on the page currently.

Sometimes people get caught out on the roads, because they thought they could get home before the storm started.

In other cases, it’s “Yankees think they can drive on ice”.

No, no, you CANNOT. Not even in New York.

I understand some people don’t have many options, but seriously: BE PREPARED. Many people do have options. No, it’s not bread, milk, and toilet paper (yeah, you need toilet paper).

Here is FEMA’s Winter Ready page.

I know it’s a little bit “horse already left the barn”, but winter isn’t over yet.

Aviation

Risk factors: potential ice on wings, bad visibility. Smaller aircraft tend to have higher crash rates.

• Bangor, Maine: A private business jet crashed during snowy conditions on Sunday, Jan 25, killing all 6 people on board. The victims were tied to a Houston-based law firm.

• Idaho: A separate plane crash killed a prominent CBS meteorologist, Roland Steadham, during the volatile weather patterns surrounding the storm’s front and Dallin Laufenberg.

Accidental Deaths: Cold, Sleds, and Other

I will be writing more about the deaths due to cold for NYC in a separate post.

Cold

Aggregated by Gemini:

The total of those is 75, and there is a distinction: in NYC specifically, the people died on the streets.

In the South, most of the people were inside buildings… that were unheated (due to power outages).

Here is a problem, as Gemini brought up:

For your Substack, you might note that hypothermia is a “lagging” mortality statistic. While shoveling deaths happen on the day of the storm, exposure deaths in unheated homes are often not discovered until days later during welfare checks or after power is restored and neighbors check in. This explains why the total death toll jumped from 42 on January 27 to over 130 by February 1.

Yeah, and alas, I know about people who live alone and have no friends/family… and their bodies are not found until much later. I will not link those stories right now.

Motorized Sledding

Just a few other stories: before linking — seriously, y’all, DO NOT RIDE ON INNERTUBES/SLEDS PULLED BY VEHICLES

29 Jan 2026, TODAY: 2nd Teenager Dies In Sledding Accident That Killed Her Best Friend

A preliminary investigation found that a 16-year-old male was operating a Jeep Wrangler while pulling the two females on a sled, police said. Witnesses reported the sled struck a curb and collided with a tree.

25 Jan 2026, KARK: Saline County teen killed in weekend sledding accident

Officials said the juvenile was riding on an inner tube being pulled by a motor vehicle before the tube hit a tree.

More Deaths

There are other deaths, but I don’t feel like linking them. It gets to be a bit of a bear. (No, no bear attacks. Yet.)

Part of the problem with winter storms and deaths is that people do not take the danger of all sorts of things seriously, and also assume “the government” (or somebody else) will save them.

Please, some people do need help (children, the elderly, people with various disabilities), but most people can be prepared for all sorts of conditions.

People should know not to do totally insane things (yes, teens are not known for their good judgment - somebody needs to tell them that totally dumbass things can kill.)

And then… the deaths due to cold exposure….

Yeah, some of that does require governmental planning and response. More on that with respect to NYC in a future post.

Comments are open.