DailyExpertNews
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A nearly week-long winter storm that ravaged much of the US has plunged temperatures to life-threatening lows, caused blizzards and flooding and left more than a quarter of a million people without power on Christmas Day.
Blizzards continue across the Great Lakes as frigid cold temperatures grip eastern two-thirds of the US, with some major cities in the Southeast, Midwest and East Coast recording their coldest Christmas in decades.
Large parts of the central and eastern U.S. remain subject to wind chill warnings and advisories as freeze warnings are in effect in the south.
New York City saw record cold temperatures in several locations on Christmas Eve, including the JFK and LaGuardia airports. The maximum temperature in Central Park was 15 degrees, the second coldest December 24 in at least 150 years, according to the National Weather Service.
At least 22 deaths have been attributed to dangerous weather conditions since Wednesday, and some residents in the northeast are spending the holidays without adequate heating or hot water as extremely cold temperatures continue.
In the US, according to PowerOutage.us, 275,856 homes and businesses in the US had no electricity as of 1 a.m. ET, many of them in Maine and New York. Since the start of the storm, the number of outages has sometimes exceeded one million customers.
A power grid operator for at least 13 states in the eastern half of the country asked customers to conserve power and set thermostats lower than usual from early Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday, as usage put pressure on capacity.
The operator, PJM Interconnection, serves approximately 65 million people in (parts of) Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. and forewarned rolling blackouts can occur if the tension gets too high.
In New York, utilities Con Edison and Natural Grid US also urged customers to conserve energy, citing extreme weather conditions and increased demand for energy on interstate pipelines that carry natural gas into the city.
Meanwhile, a shortage of electricity in Texas prompted the U.S. Department of Energy to declare a state of emergency on Friday, allowing the state’s energy supplier to exceed environmental emissions standards until energy use falls.
In Jackson, Mississippi, frigid temperatures are hampering efforts to repair a major water pipe break late Saturday that caused a loss of water pressure for residents, city officials said.
“We are grateful to the crews braving these frigid temperatures on this Christmas Eve night as they work to restore pressure to residents. Their sacrifice has not gone unnoticed and is appreciated not only by this government, but by every resident affected by it,” the release read.
The harsh weather conditions have also hampered travel over the busy holiday weekend, with more than 5,000 flights canceled on Friday, more than 3,400 flights canceled on Saturday and more than 1,000 canceled for Christmas Day.
Road conditions weren’t much better in parts of the country amid white conditions and icy and snow-covered roads.
In New York’s Erie County, hit by a blistering blizzard, about 500 motorists were stranded in their vehicles from Friday night into Saturday morning, despite a driving ban issued during the storm, County Executive Mark Poloncarz said.
National Guard troops were called in to help “rescue people trapped in vehicles,” as well as transport medical workers so they could relieve colleagues who had been working in hospitals for more than a day, Poloncarz said.
In Seattle, Washington, online videos have documented cars sliding on icy roads and crashing into each other and residents slipping while walking on sidewalks, DailyExpertNews affiliate KOMO reported.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she will ask the federal government for a state of emergency after a blistering winter storm.
“I will ask the federal government for a state of emergency that will allow us to collect reimbursements for the extraordinary costs of all overtime and the fact that we brought in mutual aid from other parts of the state,” Hochul told reporters Saturday. “We’ve deployed individuals – the emergency services have come, but also to make sure we have all the vehicles we need.”
The three storm-related deaths in New York were reported in Erie County. Two died in separate incidents Friday night when emergency medical personnel could not get to their homes in time for medical emergencies, Poloncarz said Saturday morning. Details of the third death, confirmed Saturday afternoon by a county spokesman, were not immediately available.
“The loss of two lives in Buffalo – storm-related – because people were unable to get medical attention is yet another crisis unfolding before your eyes and you realize that life-saving ambulances and emergency medical personnel cannot reach people during a snowstorm situation ,” Hochul added.
Other storm-related deaths have been reported in the country. They contain:
• Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, reported two deaths from the cold since Thursday, with a man found near a transformer of a building that may have been seeking heat, and another at a camp in a alley.
•Kansas: Three people have died in traffic accidents related to the weather, the Kansas Highway Patrol said Friday.
•Kentucky: Three people have died in the state, officials have said, including one in a car crash in Montgomery County.
• Missouri: One person died after a caravan slid off an icy road into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.
• OhioEight people have died as a result of weather-related car accidents, including four in a Saturday morning crash on Interstate 75 when a semi-trailer truck crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup truck, the authorities said.
•Tennessee: The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed one storm-related fatality on Friday.
•Wisconsin: Wisconsin State Patrol reported a fatal crash due to winter weather on Thursday.
In pictures: Winter storm hits the US
The storm system is predicted to gradually weaken as it moves toward southeastern Canada, moving slowly over the next several days and drawing arctic air from Canada into much of the country’s eastern side.
The Arctic blast felt in eastern two-thirds of the country will slowly ease into Monday, but dangerous conditions will persist into Christmas Day.
The frigid temperatures coupled with dangerous chills pose a potentially life-threatening hazard to stranded travelers, people who work outdoors, livestock and pets, according to the National Weather Service.
“In some areas, being outside can lead to freezing within minutes,” the weather service warned.
As the frigid air continues to whip up the warm waters of the Great Lakes, the lake-effect blizzards and blizzards are expected to continue, but to gradually become less intense.
Still, strong gusts, initially up to 100 km/h, accompanying the snow downwind of the Great Lakes will continue to create extremely dangerous road conditions.
By Christmas Eve on Monday, another low-pressure system from the Pacific will bring the next wave of moisture to the Pacific Northwest and then Northern California, according to the Weather Service.
