Arctic cold extends its grip over much of the United States

Arctic cold extended its grip over much of the United States!

• Power outages jump to 680,000 from Texas to Maine
• Fatal crash on I-71 in Kentucky
• Several major highways closed in the Midwest
• Cold weather could make it rain reptiles in Florida
• The severe winter storm has led to the cancellation of thousands of flights during the holiday season
• More than 200 million people were under an advisory or warning

Wind chills as low as -40 to -60 as a dangerous blast of arctic air tightens its grip on a large part of the U.S. that includes the Northern Rockies, central and northern Plains and the Upper Midwest.

As reported, over 200 million people, or roughly 60% of the U.S. population, are under some form of winter weather warnings or advisories across the U.S.

The snow, ice and howling winds from a deadly winter storm roaring out of the Midwest have disrupted energy supplies. As many as 1.5m homes and businesses are left without power.

The extreme weather conditions also thwarted travel for millions of Americans ahead of the holiday weekend.

According to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, the ongoing major winter storm will continue to produce areas of heavy snow, strong winds, and life-threatening wind chills through Saturday. If travelling for the holiday, citizens are advised to use extreme caution and pay attention to the latest forecasts and updates.

While the authorities of the affected regions are advising people to stay at home.

The extreme winter weather conditions have prompted city authorities across the US to open warming centres in libraries and police stations while scrambling to expand temporary shelters for the homeless as well.

 

 

Hard-freeze warnings were posted in southern Georgia and across much of all four Gulf Coast states – Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

On the other hand, farther north, the storm system has produced blinding snow from the northern Plains and Great Lakes region to the upper Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, western New York state and mountains of the northern and central Appalachians.

Furthermore, the storm front pushed into New England, where wind-driven surf caused coastal flooding.

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it moved eastward, some 240 million people, about more than two-thirds of the US population has been under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The Twitter timeline is currently flooded with messages and alerts revealing the bone-chilling weather conditions in the affected regions of the US.