- Historically violent winter storms have gripped North America.
- In both the US and Canada, people are struggling with temperatures that have dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius in some regions.
- On Saturday morning (local time), more than 1.6 million households were temporarily without power, as the PowerOutage website showed.
240 million people in the United States are affected by weather warnings, according to the National Weather Service. That’s more than two-thirds of the entire population. The weather service warns of life-threatening low temperatures. A record cold of minus 39 degrees was measured in the north of the state of Montana.
The extreme winter weather has already resulted in at least 17 fatalities. In almost all cases, the cause is weather-related traffic accidents, reports the television station NBC. Two people were killed in a collision involving more than 50 cars on a highway in the state of Ohio, according to the local fire department. In neighboring Kentucky, two more people died in car accidents and a homeless man froze to death.
According to the weather experts, a so-called bomb cyclone developed near the Great Lakes. Such a phenomenon occurs when, in a strong storm, the air pressure drops very quickly.
Chaos at the airports
There were also warnings of extreme frost in states in the south of the country. On the night of Christmas Eve, the storm shifted more to the eastern part of the country. Several states, including New York, have declared a state of emergency. “Mother Nature is demanding everything she has to offer this weekend,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.
The Arctic cold front also messed up the Christmas plans of many travelers: According to the flight data website FlightAware, almost 6,000 flights were canceled on Friday and almost 2,000 on Saturday morning.
The winter storm has North America firmly in its grip
The US weather service called on travelers to be extremely careful on the Christmas weekend and warned of so-called whiteout conditions, i.e. severely restricted visibility and orientation due to the snow. Traveling under these conditions is “extremely dangerous and at times impossible,” it said. There was also a warning about the low temperatures. In the state of Montana, minus 40 degrees Celsius were measured early on Saturday morning. It was said that even a few minutes in the cold could lead to frostbite.
Dangerous cold
Emergency shelters have been set up in numerous US cities to protect the homeless and those in need from the life-threatening cold.
Similar conditions also prevail in Canada. Tens of thousands of households and companies were without power – hundreds of flights have been canceled so far. In addition, schools were closed. Authorities are warning people not to go outside.