Much of the United States is facing a major winter storm, with temperatures forecast below 45 degrees in some areas and very heavy snow flurries. The very bad weather is causing great damage and disturbances in various parts of the country, especially as regards transport and the distribution of electricity. According to New York Times at least twelve people died of cold on the street, because they were homeless, or in car accidents caused by ice on the roads.
It’s already rated the coldest Christmas Eve in decades for most of the central and eastern United States, including states that aren’t used to freezing temperatures, such as Louisiana and Florida.
In the cities of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Tallahassee the coldest temperatures on record are expected on December 24. In New York it will probably be the coldest Christmas Eve since 1906. In Miami, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach – all Florida cities, very close to the sea and accustomed to tropical climates – it will be the coldest Christmas since 1983.
A truck that went off the road in Michigan (Neil Blake/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)
According to cnn1.5 million households were left without electricity at various times between Friday and Saturday, and it is difficult to restore electricity due to the extremely difficult weather conditions.
Even in cities accustomed to the cold like Buffalo, New York, responders said it was “almost impossible” to respond to all emergency calls due to the “unprecedented” number of calls and road conditions. The New York Times tells of abandoned vehicles on the street and three-hour journeys for journeys that would normally take ten minutes.
Driving ban is now in effect for all of Erie county and this is why. #buffalo #blizzard pic.twitter.com/qWUUxllro2
— BuffaloWeather (@weather_buffalo) December 23, 2022
Libraries, police stations and other public buildings in different parts of the country have opened their doors to people looking for a warm place but the institutions advise staying indoors even in case of electricity outage.
Tens of thousands of travelers have been stranded in their cities of origin, both because most flights have been canceled and because the weather conditions make it really difficult for pilots to drive. 5,100 flights were canceled on Friday alone, and another 8,400 were delayed, complicating the plans of scores of people who were heading home for the Christmas holidays.
The cold-weather disruptions came just as travel volume was approaching prepandemic levels: between December 23 and January 2, according to the American Automobile Association, a federation of automobile clubs that collects data on American travel habits 7.2 million Americans planned to fly and another 102 million said they would drive at least 80 kilometers on vacation.
In some cases, flights were canceled because the airport’s runways were frozen due to a combination of rain and frost. In other cases, bad weather has delayed or canceled incoming flights, with consequences for subsequent ones.
Overland travel has also been severely hampered: Railroad company Amtrak announced on Wednesday that all trains on Midwestern routes, including to Chicago and Michigan, would be canceled over the weekend “out of caution.” All Amtrak trains due to pass through the state of Vermont were also canceled on Friday. In Seattle, in the northwest, all bus rides were canceled Friday morning “due to unsafe road conditions.”
Several interstate highways are closed to all motorists except emergency vehicles.
Detroit cops grappling with frozen pipes (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
