Winter storms sweep the U.S.: Arctic cold extends severe frosts
Kyiv • UNN
Severe Arctic cold has gripped the U.S., bringing record low temperatures and disrupting daily life, including an NFL game.
Dangerous arctic cold will continue to blanket the U.S. on Monday and linger through at least midweek, prolonging severe cold that has set record low temperatures in parts of the country and threatens to further disrupt daily life, including an NFL playoff game and the nation's first presidential nominating event in Iowa, writes UNN citing AP.
Details
The US National Weather Service said the wind chill is expected to cause temperatures to reach 30 degrees below zero (-34.4℃) from the Northern Rocky Mountains to northern Kansas and Iowa, "testing the endurance of cokus participants willing to endure the intense cold on Monday".
"You can't sit at home," former US President Donald Trump told his supporters on Sunday. - "If you're sick as a dog, you say, 'Honey, I have to do this.' Even if you vote and die, it's worth it.
Arctic storms killed at least four people and de-energized tens of thousands in the Northwest, brought snow to the South and pummeled the Northeast with a blizzard that forced the postponement of the Pittsburgh Steelers' NFL playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
The game was supposed to be played on Monday after being canceled on Sunday.
It is not yet known if the event will take place Monday afternoon. The weather service expects heavy lake-effect snowfall to fall in upstate New York due to Lake Erie, in addition to the 30.4 to 60.9 centimeters of snow already covering the region. The snow was falling at a rate of 5 centimeters per hour.
Freezing wind chills will sweep much of the country, dropping temperatures to 50 degrees below zero (-45.6℃) in Montana and the Dakotas.
"It takes minutes for frostbite to occur," the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said in a statement Sunday urging people to stay home.
In other parts of the country, temperatures could fall 25 to 40 degrees below normal, from the Rocky Mountains to the Ohio Valley.
As temperatures plummeted in Texas, the state's power grid operator asked residents to conserve electricity Monday morning due to cold weather causing "record demand" for power. A deadly freeze in 2021 has left millions of Texans without power, but state officials this week expressed confidence in the reliability of the power grid as the cold front approaches.
The freezing rain is expected to hit parts of the Southern Plains and Southern Appalachians.
Even places like Florida won't be immune to the turbulent weather, with forecasts predicting showers and thunderstorms Monday through Tuesday.
In Oregon, more than 120,000 homes and businesses were without power, most of them in the Portland area, a day after high winds and a mix of snow and ice downed trees and power lines.
About 100 trees fell over the weekend in a community south of Portland, including one that fell on a home and killed a man. Two other people died of suspected hypothermia, and a fourth died in a fire that spread from an open-flame furnace after a tree fell on a van.
Massive power outages affecting tens of thousands of people were also reported Sunday in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In Nebraska, the Omaha Public Power District asked customers to conserve electricity to prevent outages.
Airports across the country were affected. More than half of the flights to and from Buffalo Niagara International Airport were canceled. Multiple flights were also canceled or delayed at Chicago, Denver and Seattle-Tacoma airports.
