Arctic Blast: 'Life-threatening record low temperatures freeze' much of US
The storms and freezing temperatures affected everything from air travel to NFL playoff games, and resulted in the deaths of several people across the country.
Arctic freeze: Much of the United States of America (USA) continues to suffer severe cold wave conditions as the Arctic Freeze/Arctic Blast continues to devastate vast swaths of the country with sub-zero temperatures.
According to the AP, “Dangerously cold temperatures affected much of the Rockies, Great Plains and the Midwest on Tuesday, with wind chills below minus 30 degrees (minus 34.4 degrees Celsius) in many parts of the central U.S.” .
It also reported that more than 85,000 U.S. homes and businesses were without power Tuesday morning, with the majority in Oregon following widespread power outages that began Saturday. Meanwhile, Portland General Electric warned that the threat of freezing rain on Tuesday could slow recovery efforts and transportation officials urged residents to avoid travel as roads were expected to be dangerously slippery with ice covering trees and power lines. could become heavier, causing them to sag. fall.
The bad weather has also affected studies, as classes were canceled Tuesday for students in Portland and other major cities including Chicago, home to the nation's fourth-largest public school district, Denver, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas .
The storms and freezing temperatures affected everything from air travel to NFL playoff games to the Iowa presidential caucuses, and resulted in the deaths of several people across the country.
At least four people in the Portland area died, including two people from suspected hypothermia. Another man was killed after a tree fell on his home and a woman died in a fire that spread from an open fire stove after a tree fell on a camper.
In Wisconsin, the deaths of three homeless people in the Milwaukee area were under investigation, with hypothermia as the likely cause, officials said.
Freezing rain and sleet were expected to continue in parts of the South East until Tuesday morning. Winter storm warnings were in effect for Lawrence, Limestone and Madison counties in Alabama and Franklin County in Tennessee, southeastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana and much of north-central and southwestern Mississippi.
On Monday night, temperatures dropped as low as 10 degrees (minus 12.2 C) in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and Jackson, Tennessee.
Air travelers across the country faced delays and cancellations. The flight tracking service FlightAware reported about 2,900 cancellations in, to or from the United States on Monday.
The National Weather Service said Monday that wind chills are expected to raise temperatures from the northern Rockies to northern Kansas and Iowa by 30 degrees below zero, while Arctic storms have left at least four dead and cut electricity to tens of thousands in the Northwest have disabled and caused snow. south and hit the Northeast with snowstorms forcing the postponement of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. NFL playoff game. Buffalo Bills in blood-curdling Buffalo, New York.
(With AP inputs)