From December 21 to 26, 2022, a historic extratropical cyclone created crippling winter storm conditions, including blizzards, high winds, snowfall, and record cold temperatures across the majority of the United States and parts of Canada. Areas which experienced blizzard conditions included parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, with the Buffalo area of New York and the Fort Erie and Kingston areas of Ontario experiencing almost two full days of blizzard/zero-visibility conditions starting from December 23. The cold wave affected all U.S. states from Colorado to the Eastern Seaboard, with effects felt as far south as Miami, Florida. On December 24, 110 million people across 36 states were subject to wind chill alerts.

Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of producing anything from cloudiness and mild showers to severe gales, thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes. These types of cyclones are defined as large scale (synoptic) low pressure weather systems that occur in the middle latitudes of the Earth. In contrast with tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones produce rapid changes in temperature and dew point along broad lines, called weather fronts, about the center of the cyclone.