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"An East Coast storm could develop as soon as Sunday Feb. 22, but the track of this potential nor'easter isn't yet determined, leaving impacts such as snow, rain, wind and coastal flooding uncertain from New England to the mid-Atlantic states," saidWeather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman in an online forecast.

Another forecaster, AccuWeather meteorologist Jon Porter, told USA TODAY Feb. 19 that "there's going to be a big storm, but it could be just off the Atlantic coast." He said a slight shift to the west will result in higher snow totals, but a slight shift to the east means lower snow totals.

Uncertainty isn't unusual

Porter said this level of uncertainty just a few days before a storm isn't unusual. "This is a pretty typical snow threat for the eastern U.S."

One reason for the uncertainty, he said, is that part of the energy that will fuel the storm is still off the California coast. He said once that energy comes onshore in the next day or so, it will be better sampled by the National Weather Service's balloon network. This will give better data for the computer weather models to digest.

"Small details will matter in determining the final outcome of the storm," he said.

Jose Castillo of Tarrytown, NY. walks through snow along Route 9 in Tarrytown during the early hours of the winter storm Jan. 25, 2026. The storm was predicted to drop up to a foot of snow on the lower Hudson Valley. A huge winter storm dumped heavy amounts of snow and ice across wide swaths of the U.S.

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See fun faces of people making the best of winter weather

Jose Castillo of Tarrytown, NY. walks throughsnowalong Route 9 in Tarrytown during the early hours of the winter storm Jan. 25, 2026. The storm was predicted to drop up to a foot of snow on the lower Hudson Valley. A huge winter storm dumped heavy amounts of snow and ice across wide swaths of the U.S.

Subtle changes in track mean drastic changes to impacts

Theweather service confirmswhat the private forecasters say: "There remains a strong potential for a coastal low by Sunday [Feb. 22] and early Monday [Feb. 23] for the East Coast, but the track of the low remains uncertain. A track closer to the coast would result in heavy coastal rain and inland snow from the Mid-Atlantic to New England, and strong winds near the coast with the potential for coastal flooding."

However, the weather service said a more offshore track would mean less inland precipitation and wind, and the heaviest precipitation near the Delmarva Peninsula and extending to eastern North Carolina.

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"Both scenarios remain equally plausible at this point, but potential remains for some possible impactful snow somewhere near the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. This will continue to be monitored closely as even subtle changes in track could mean more drastic changes to impacts," the weather service said in anonline forecast discussion.

A National Weather Service forecast issued on Feb. 19 for Saturday, Feb. 21, through Sunday, Feb. 22, shows the potential for rain, mixed precipitation or snow from Texas to New England. Meanwhile, forecasts for Monday, Feb. 23, show a chance of snow throughout the Northeast.

Dueling models

Two of the main weather models that forecasters use to predict weather − colloquially known as the American and the European models − can't seem to agree on the forecast. The American "GFS" model still shows a big storm for the big cities of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with 2 to 3 feet or more of snowfall, which is "unbelievable," said Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue in an email to USA TODAY.

However, he said the European (ECMWF) weather model "is still NOT interested in the coastal storm having major impacts to the Mid-Atlantic or the Northeast. We're currently in the 2 inches to 4 inches category as the highest probability outcome," according to the European model, Maue said.

AccuWeather agrees with the Euro model, and as of Feb. 19 is calling for 1-3 inches of snow in Philadelphia and New York City, and 2-4 inches in Boston.

The weather service, pointing out the differences between the models, summed it up this way: "This continues to be a low-confidence forecast at this time as it pertains to extent of wintry weather and coastal winds."

AccuWeather's Porter said "we'll know more in the next 24 hours."

Doyle Rice is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, with a focus on weather and climate.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Weekend nor'easter, snow storm in forecast, but there's a catch

Tiffany Score and Steven Mills filed a lawsuit against the Fertility Center of Orlando last month, asking that the reproductive health clinic identify the biological parents of the baby Score gave birth to in December, according to the complaint filed last month. The couple is also asking for information on what happened to their own embryos and whether or not someone else gave birth to their biological child.

According to the January complaint, Score gave birth to a baby girl on Dec. 11, 2025, but it was immediately clear that the baby was unlikely to be related to the couple. Mills and Score are both "racially caucasian" while the baby had the appearance of a "racially non-caucasian child," the complaint said.

"Genetic testing also proved that the baby was not Mills and Score's biological child," according to the complaint.

The couple said that they developed a strong bond with the baby girl, but that they feel a moral and legal obligation to unite her with her biological parents.

Score and Mills also feel they deserve to be relieved of the "ever-increasing mental anguish of not knowing whether a child or children belonging to them are in someone else's care."

A motion filed last week requested an emergency hearing in the case, after the couple alleged that the fertility clinic failed to identify the baby's parents to them, and that a person contacted them to say they had an embryo transfer at the same time as Score did last year.

"This patient, acting on her own initiative in response to published media reports about this litigation, self-reported to Plaintiffs as someone who also had an embryo transfer on April 7, 2025, and who birthed a baby in December 2025," the motion said.

The woman, who was not identified, has a last name similar to the couple's, the motion said. Photos of her and her husband also allegedly show they have a similar physical appearance to the baby girl who Score birthed in December.

But the woman gave birth to a baby boy, and Score and Mills were under the belief their remaining embryos were girls, the motion said.

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The motion alleges that the clinic did provide the couple with a report, but that it only detailed the clinic's processes and did not include information on who else might have received their embryo or who the baby girl's parents might be.

Robert T. Terenzio, an attorney representing Fertility Center of Orlando, submitted a letter to the court outlining a proposed protocol for investigating the situation in order to protect the privacy of the patients.

Among the items on the list was having the clinic work on an internal investigation separate from updates to the court. It also suggested providing the court with operational facts and aggregate information that do not contain identifiable information openly, but only providing information that contains personal identifying information under appropriate safeguards, according to the letter filed with the court.

Terenzio did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment on the matter on Thursday.

The Fertility Center of Orlando told NBC News affiliate WESH that it was "actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients."

"Multiple entities are involved in this process, and all parties are working diligently to help identify when and where the error may have occurred," the statement said. "Our priority remains transparency and the well-being of the patient and child involved."

Judge Margaret Schreiber ordered weekly status hearings in the case during an emergency relief hearing on Tuesday, according to the court minutes.

The clinic was ordered to provide a certification that the patients were contacted, as well as to advise the court on who has waived their confidentiality and who has not. A report on the confidentiality matter will be sent directly to the court 24 hours before the next hearing.

Attorneys representing Score and Mills did not immediately respond to an email from NBC News requesting comment on Thursday. The couple told WESH on Wednesday that, until this week's hearing, the clinic had not provided them with a timeline or any verifiable information in the case.

"Faced with the prospect of a court order at yesterday's hearing, the clinic has now promised cooperation, but that promise has not yet been fulfilled," they said. "We hope it will be."

The restoration comes after U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to do so by 5 p.m. on Friday. The outdoor exhibit is a memorial to the nine enslaved Africans who were held at the site by President George Washington.

NPS workersbegan restoring the panelsahead of the deadline, according to ABC station in Philadelphia, WPVI.

The deadline was set in an order filed on Wednesday by Rufe, who is overseeing Philadelphia's federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the removal of the slavery exhibit, The exhibit wastaken down by the National Park Service (NPS) on Jan. 23.

Rufegranted a preliminary injunction requested by the city of Philadelphia in a Monday ruling, ordering the Department of Interior, which oversees NPS, to restore the exhibit as the lawsuit moves forward.

Trump admin removes memorial honoring people enslaved by George Washington in Philadelphia

In setting the deadline, Rufe cited the federal government's "failure to comply" with her order to restore the exhibit.

The Interior Department appealed Rufe's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, the department also filed an emergency motion for an immediate stay that would block the preliminary injunction granted to Philadelphia pending the federal government's appeal.

"The Court should stay its preliminary injunction pending appeal because the Government is likely to prevail on the merits, will face irreparable injury absent a stay, and the remaining factors also support a stay," the motion states.

Judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibit at President's House Site

Rufe ordered the city of Philadelphia to respond to the Trump administration's motion for an emergency stay by 4 p.m. local time on Thursday.

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ABC News reached out to representatives of the city of Philadelphia, NPS and to the U.S. Interior Dept. for further comment.

Judge orders Trump admin to 'mitigate' further 'damage' to slavery exhibit panels as Philadelphia fights their removal

In granting the preliminary injunction and ordering the government to restore the exhibit,Rufe cited George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984,comparing their actions to those of Big Brother in the book.

"As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984 now existed, with its motto 'Ignorance is Strength,' this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims -- to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not," she wrote.

"An agency, whether the Department of the Interior, NPS, or any other agency, cannot arbitrarily decide what is true, based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership, regardless of the evidence before it," she added in the ruling.

She also concluded that NPS should have consulted with the city before amending the exhibit.

Philadelphia sues Trump admin over removal of memorial honoring people enslaved by George Washington

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker called the judge's decision a "huge win for the people of this city and our country."

"We will not allow anyone to erase our history today," Parker said on Tuesday.

The boards and panels that were removed told the stories of Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond -- the nine enslaved Africans held by Washington as his home in Philadelphia.

They were removed to comply with President Donald Trump'sMarch 27, 2025, executive order, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which directed the Interior Department to remove what they called "divisive, race-centered ideology" and narratives from federal cultural institutions, a department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement last month.

ABC News' Peter Charalambous and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

Immigration Enforcement Minnesota

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim blocked the government from targeting these refugees last month, saying the plaintiffs in the case were likely to prevail on their claims "that their arrest and detention, and the policy that purports to justify them, are unlawful."His Jan. 28 temporary restraining orderwill expire Feb. 25 unless he grants a more permanent preliminary injunction.

Refugee rights groups sued the federal government in January after the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in mid-December launched Operation PARRIS, an acronym for Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening.

It was billed as a "sweeping initiative" to reexamine the cases of 5,600 Minnesota refugees who had not yet been granted permanent resident status, also known as green cards. The agenciescited fraud in public programsin Minnesota as justification.

Operation PARRIS was part of the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown that targeted Minnesota, including the surge of thousands of federal officers into the state. Homeland Security said it was itslargest immigration enforcement operation ever. It also sparked mass protests after the shooting deaths ofRenee GoodandAlex Pretti.White House border czar Tom Homanannounced last weekthe surge was ending, though asmall federal presencewould remain.

The lawsuit alleges that ICE officers went door to door under Operation PARRIS arresting refugees and sending them to detention centers in Texas, without access to attorneys. Some were later released on the streets of Texas and left to find their own way back to Minnesota, they said.

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The judge rejected the government's claim that it had the legal right to arrest and detain refugees who haven't obtained their green cards within a year of arriving in the U.S. He said that would be illogical and nonsensical, given that refugees can't apply for permanent residency until they've been in the U.S. for a year.

Tunheim noted in his order, which applies only in Minnesota, that refugees are extensively vetted by multiple agencies before being resettled in the U.S. He wrote that none arrested in the operation had been deemed a danger to the community or a flight risk, nor had any been charged with crimes that could be grounds for deportation.

The judge cited several cases involving plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, including one man identified only as U.H.A., a refugee with no criminal history. He was admitted into the U.S. in 2024 and was arrested by ICE while driving to work on Jan. 18 this year. "He was pulled over, ordered out of his car, handcuffed, and detained, without a warrant or apparent justification," the judge wrote.

Tunheim stressed that the refugees impacted by his order were admitted into the U.S. because of persecution in their home countries. He prohibited further arrests under Operation PARRIS and ordered that all detainees still in custody from it be released and returned to Minnesota.

"They are not committing crimes on our streets, nor did they illegally cross the border. Refugees have a legal right to be in the United States, a right to work, a right to live peacefully — and importantly, a right not to be subjected to the terror of being arrested and detained without warrants or cause in their homes or on their way to religious services or to buy groceries," he wrote.

"At its best, America serves as a haven of individual liberties in a world too often full of tyranny and cruelty. We abandon that ideal when we subject our neighbors to fear and chaos," he continued.

In afollow-up orderFeb. 9, Tunheim rejected a government motion to lift the temporary restraining order.

More:Epstein pulled strings, paid tuition across world for kids of powerful

She told Epstein she'd mentioned to the student's "mum" how generous Epstein was with artists and how he played the piano.

"I skipped all my experiences that shocked me so please," she wrote on Aug. 20, 2013, "be nice and behave your best :) If you feel like you can't be official I would rather you not help her."

Anata did not know the student at the prestigious performing arts college in New York City, but she told USA TODAY she knew Epstein was a philanthropist who supported "talented individuals and artists."

She also knew Epstein had spent roughly two years in custody after pleading guilty to solicitation of prostitution and hiring minors to engage in prostitution. But Anata explained to USA TODAY that Epstein told her that those charges were "politically motivated and set up by his adversaries."

That same day, a person whose name is redacted wrote to Epstein that a family friend had come through with New York accommodations and she would not need to contact "Juilliard's Residence Hall." The email does not explicitly link the housing solution to the Juilliard student, but it references a conversation with someone named Ditè.

"It is wonderful to know, that there are still such kind and generous people in the world like you, who value and support Arts and Science" the Aug. 20, 2013, email read. "I was delighted to hear from Dite, that you yourself love playing the piano!"

More:Who is in the Epstein files? A look at the latest names

Epstein kept the correspondence going,inviting his correspondent to dinner with a famous movie director and a prominent composer. The email correspondent replied that it would be a "great honor for me to participate."

USA TODAY reached out to the former student discussed in Anata and Epstein's email exchange, whose name surfaced in the final batch of court documents released by the Justice Department last month.

The former student's attorney, Brittany Henderson, declined to answer questions about the housing situation, but said her client "endured substantial abuse at the hands of Epstein." Henderson requested anonymity for the former student, which USA TODAY granted, as it does not identify people who report sexual abuse.

More:Six years after Jeffrey Epstein's death, hundreds of women push for justice

Anata told USA TODAY she did not have any information about what transpired after she'd asked Epstein for help. Juilliard said it did not receive payment from Epstein, and the student never lived in campus housing.

Among themillions of pages from the Epstein files the DOJ released following a mandate from Congress, the email exchange between Anata, Epstein and the Juilliard student illustrates how the now-globally notorious sex offender served as an opportunity broker for powerful people. Emails show he arranged to help the relatives of celebrities like Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn, or politicians like Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States. They also came from lower-profile people hoping to change their circumstances.

In exchange, the people asking favors told Epstein they felt they owed him and promised to reward him in various ways for his largesse.In the messages reviewed by USA TODAY, none of the people who appear to be currying favor with Epstein are connected to allegations of Epstein's illegal acts, including sexual misconduct, and they have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

A USA TODAY review of hundreds of files shows Epstein or entities tied to him paid at least $840,000 to cover students' costs at 28 different schools.

Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law scholar and Democratic Maryland congressman, has been pushing the feds for more transparency about Epstein's ties to America's elite universities. In January, he requested documents be released showing how Epstein and potential co-conspirators arranged for women to attend Columbia and New York University and paid their tuition after they were accepted.

"By doing so, Mr. Epstein not only lured young women who he and his co-conspirators would come to sexually abuse and rape, he also ensured his victims were indebted to him and less likely to come forward to report crimes to law enforcement," Raskinwrote in a letterto NYU President Linda G. Mills.

The trove of documents released last month revealed Epstein's largesse extended beyond these New York colleges. A USA TODAY review of hundreds of files shows Epstein or entities tied to him paid at least $840,000 to cover students' costs at 28 different schools, according to a Deutsche Bank document in the Justice Department files. In addition,USA TODAY found Epstein arranged for tuition payments for dozens of people at other schools across the country, including large public universities, for-profit art colleges and elite private universities.

Marquee celebs, prominent academics sought with school costs

Sometimes Epstein covered school costs for his staffers or the children of his friends. In other cases, the Deutsche Bank report described the recipients as "Russian" or "Swedish" models. Their names were redacted. The newly released files also show that additional payments, beyond those shared by Deutsche Bank in September 2019, were made a few months after Epsteindied in federal custody.

Epstein, for example, arranged to pay 10,000 pounds for Reinaldo Avila da Silva, the husband of British politician Peter Mandelson, to attend an osteopathic program.

"It feels so right to be doing this," da Silva wrote Epstein after he'd begun his studies, in an email message on Sept. 28, 2009. "It has increased my understanding of the body in every aspect already."

The Health Sciences University, which houses the Uco School of Osteopathy, the former British School of Osteopathy, told USA TODAY that the institution did not receive money directly, "from Epstein, his businesses, or any of his known business associates."

The General Osteopathic Council, a regulatory body in Britain,issued a news release Feb. 2saying it was "aware of media reports that the husband of Peter Mandelson, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, was in receipt of funds from Jeffrey Epstein to fund an osteopathy course in the UK in 2009."

The organization went on to say that da Silva did not graduate and was ineligible to practice osteopathy in the UK. Mandelson was fired from his role as the British ambassador to the United States in 2025 after his ties to Epstein became apparent.

Mandelson's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Epstein made similar overtures to Hollywood titans.

In 2018, he wowed Caroline Lang, then a Warner Bros. executive based in France, when he appeared to promise he would cover tuition for a person with the same name as her daughter.

Epstein writes: "to confirm her tuition is my treat."

"Waouh!!! I am spoiled!!!!! Great!!!!" Lang wrote back.

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It's unclear based on the emails whether Epstein paid the tuition. USA TODAY attempted to contact Lang but did not receive a response.

Epstein wielded not only his checkbook in service of his charges, but also his Rolodex.

In 2016, Epstein personally appealed to the president of Bard College, Leon Botstein, to help secure admission for Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn's daughter.

David Wade, a spokesperson for Botstein, provided a statement, saying, "Jeffrey Epstein was a serial liar who apparently took credit for the sun rising each day."

The statement went on to say Allen and Previn's daughter was "accepted on the merits of her own qualifications for admission."

As for the university president's connection to Epstein, Wade said that Botstein "regrets enormously pursuing this fundraising connection," but "seeking more philanthropy was the only reason that their paths crossed."

Botsteinhas since faced calls to resign, according to Mid Hudson News.

Allen's manager did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Epstein was also known to broker openings for academics and their children. For example, Joscha Bach, a former MIT professor who now works as an AI researcher, asked Epstein repeatedly to fund his children's private education at schools including Alef-Bet Child Care Inc., a "play-based day care" in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the German International School Boston, "a bilingual independent school serving students from preschool – grade 12." The newly released emails show that Bach received at least $48,000 to cover education expenses.

Bach told USA TODAY scientists he knew had introduced him to Epstein. He said that he was aware of Epstein's past convictions, but fellow academics told him that the financier had changed.

When he accepted Epstein's help, Bach was studying artificial generative intelligence, a topic for which he told USA TODAY he struggled to find research funding. He was "confronted with the choice of accepting Epstein's offer to fund the stay of me and my family in the U.S., or to leave academic research behind."

"I decided to take his offer; I would not have been able to support the move, cost of living, day care or cost of the German school from my postdoctoral salary," Bach told USA TODAY.

He added that Epstein "never expected anything in return" other than access to the "minds of individuals he found interesting." He said he'd never observed Epstein commit illegal activity or sexual crimes. Bach said that Epstein's second arrest "came as a shock."

Had he been aware of that activity, Bach said, "I would have ceased all interactions."

Where else did Epstein cover tuition?

The Deutsche Bank document in the Epstein files provides a concise accounting of the range of schools at which Epstein covered tuition.

They include many payments for Epstein's staff members' relatives: roughly $19,900 for one employee's relative to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University, a private college in New Jersey; and $10,000 for another person's relative to attend Mississippi College, a private Christian institution in a suburb of Jackson.

Dina Schipper, a spokesperson for Fairleigh Dickinson, said the university was aware these expenses were reflected in the files and that it had records of three tuition payments from a Jeffrey Epstein account in 2015. She said the university had no records or knowledge of any connection to Epstein in any other capacity.

Beyond the Deutsche Bank report, USA TODAY's review uncovered documents showing Epstein paid tuition at primary schools, private universities, for-profit colleges and a coding boot camp.

A correspondent whose name was redacted by the DOJ sought help in covering the tuition for massage school. The student had nowhere else to turn, the message said.

"I am of course more than happy to do anything for you in return. miss you a lot. Xo," the aspiring student wrote in a 2009 message, written a year after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and hiring a minor to engage in sex.

Another correspondent, whose name was also redacted by the feds, sought Epstein's help paying for an education at Sotheby's Institute of Art New York, a for-profit college, in 2019. In an email, Lesley Groff, identified as Epstein's assistant, communicated with Sotheby's about the student's tuition payment.

Amanda M.F. Bakale, general counsel of Edconic, said the company that runs the institute was not previously aware Epstein had sent the payment, but she subsequently confirmed its veracity.

"It is not uncommon for individuals other than the student to complete the payment form (employers, parents, etc.)," Bakale wrote.

The attorney said that the school hadn't received any inquiries from law enforcement tied to the payment.

Sometimes, Epstein's quid pro quo was explicit

In dozens of exchanges where power brokering like this played out, Epstein's motivations occasionally showed through. In some cases, he laid out explicit conditions for what he wanted in exchange for fronting tuition money. In April 2017, he wrote in an email to a person whose name was redacted that he would provide $30,000 for tuition, but it came with a caveat.

"You will need to provide three assistants. 10k per. If you don't you will have to repay," he wrote.

Even with this explicit condition, the person asking the favor seemed eager to push forward with the deal. The email correspondent said he or she was "crossing my fingers for" the student whose name was redacted. Separately, the correspondent noted that he or she was planning an ad campaign and would be hiring "females under 24 based in NY/Paris."

It's unclear if the campaign ever ran.

Chris Quintana is an investigative reporter at USA TODAY. He can be reached at cquintana@usatoday.com or via Signal at 202-308-9021. He is on X at @CQuintanaDC.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Epstein files reveal how he cultivated power figures to his benefit