Panic buyers have begun to strip the shelves of grocery stores as a historic storm forecast to be the coldest in American history barrels down on 200 million people.

Storm Fern is forecast to bring temperatures of -50f and up to 24 inches of snow to much of the United States from Friday – and many of those in its path are stocking up. 

Megan Monroe-Eaves shared footage online of her local Walmart in Cullman, Alabama, which had its dairy section raided prior to her arrival.

A long row of largely empty fridges in the supermarket were seen in the video, which she captioned: ‘My local Walmart because someone mentioned snow and ice.

‘Time for milk sandwiches. I’ll never understand panic buying, please tell me this is just a south thing.’

Another woman, known online as Jen George, posted a video outside of a grocery store in North Texas and explained how panic buyers were out in force on Monday. 

She said: ‘It’s Monday and people are out there packing there carts out already, and I’m thinking lets keep some for us and other people.

‘They’re going crazy, and I understand because of the past and things that have happened, but we know here in North Texas that the weather can change like that.

‘I really hate to see what the shelves are going to look like on Wednesday or Thursday, you might want to get your groceries sooner than later.’

Panic buying appears to be concentrated in southern states at the minute. The weather there is not expected to be as snowy or cold as the Midwest or Northeast.

But a few inches of snow or just below freezing temperatures could still cause chaos and week-long power cuts in a swathe of the United States accustomed to mild winters. 

The Weather Channel has forecast ‘significant ice’ and ‘freezing rain’ for much of Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. 

On Tuesday Kym Adams, from Oklahoma, put out a TikTok showing aisles at her local Walmart with people stocking up on cases of water, diapers and bread. 

She said: ‘If you’re from Oklahoma you know there’s probably not any bread or milk left.’

Adams gave a tour of the store showing there were still some essentials remaining – but predicted the shelves would be cleared by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a meteorologist has warned residents of Minnesota that the cold spell could cause trees to ‘explode’ in the state. 

Max Velocity warned that ‘exploding trees’ would be possible across the state due to the intense low temperatures. 

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