Dangerously cold wind chills will freeze much of the eastern two-thirds of the country as a monstrous winter storm continues to wreak havoc through the holiday weekend, forecasters have warned.
Blizzards and an Arctic blast will impact the Midwest to the Northeast, the National Weather Service said in a bulletin Saturday, adding that travel will be “extremely dangerous” and “at times impossible” where whiteout conditions occur.
The storm has already claimed the lives of multiple people, and hundreds of thousands have been left without power. Holiday travelers have encountered delays and cancellations.
What to know
- At least 28 people have died in weather-related fatalities. The deaths occurred in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, New York, Colorado and Michigan.
- The life-threatening cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers who become stranded, forecasters have warned.
- The severe weather is causing travel chaos across the U.S.
- The arctic blast is expected to continue into Christmas Day but lessen in severity, according to the National Weather Service.
Huge mounds of snow pictured in Buffalo
Drivers in Idaho urged to use 'extreme caution'
Water pressure ‘fluctuating’ in Jackson, Mississippi, amid frigid temperatures
JACKSON, Miss. — The water system in Jackson, Mississippi, which partially collapsed in late August, was experiencing “fluctuating” pressure impacting residents on Saturday amid frigid temperatures, officials said.
Some neighborhoods in Jackson had low water pressure and residents said they had no water pressure on Christmas Eve.
As the temperature remained below freezing, production slowed at one of the city’s water treatment plants while officials worked to correct the pressure drop they believed was caused by leaks and water line breaks.
City spokesperson Melissa Payne said the decreasing temperature was contributing to an increasing number of breaks.
The potential for further disruptions to Jackson’s water system comes just months after the city of about 150,000 residents lost water in late August.
The water system fell into crisis after flooding exacerbated longstanding problems in one of two water treatment plants. Most of Jackson lost running water for several days and people waited in lines for water to drink, cook, bathe and flush toilets.
In February 2021, tens of thousands of Jackson residents were left without running water for days after pipes froze, which had temperatures mirrored during this week’s cold snap.
Con Edison and National Grid urge customers to conserve energy due to heavy demand
Two utility companies serving New York and the Northeast are asking customers to conserve energy as below-freezing temperatures are overburdening interstate gas pipelines and could lead to more power outages.
Con Edison asked its customers Saturday to set thermostats at the lowest comfortable temperature; use appliances only as needed; hold off on using appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and dryers; and making sure heating vents are unobstructed and working properly.
The call for conservation applies to Con Edison’s 1.1 million natural gas, 3.5 million electric customers and its steam customers in Manhattan. It remains in effect until further notice.
National Grid, which services customers in New York and Massachusetts, is asking its customers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island to reduce natural gas usage until Sunday afternoon. Some 1.9 million customers are affected.
Arctic blast to lessen in coming days but hazardous conditions will remain through Monday
An arctic blast that forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and contributed to nearly two dozen deaths will continue into Christmas Day but lessen in severity, according to the National Weather Service.
"Blustery west to northwesterly winds behind this expansive system will continue to direct arctic air from central Canada down into much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, with only slow moderation of temperatures through the rest of the weekend into Monday," the National Weather Service said.
In the West, the arctic front will continue over the next couple of days to bring snow across the northern Plains into the Midwest, with areas of rain and freezing rain over parts of the Northern High Plains on Sunday.
The Pacific Northwest, northern Idaho and western Montana could see freezing rain.
Across the country, slick roads and white-out conditions are leaving a trail of car crashes, traffic pile-ups and power outages. The weather is not only wreaking havoc on travel but on electric grids, with hundreds of thousands of people without power across the country.
Deadly crash in Ohio raises weather-related fatalities to at least 27
Four people died in a crash in Ohio on Saturday morning, bringing the total number of weather-related deaths during the winter storm to at least 27.
The three-vehicle crash happened about 8:30 a.m. on southbound Interstate 75 in Franklin Township, Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
A tractor-trailer was northbound on the interstate when it went off the side of the road and into the median, crashing through a cable barrier and ditch, and striking a GMC Terrain and Ford F-150 in the southbound lanes, authorities said.
Two people in the GMC died at the scene. Authorities identified them as 32-year-old Lauren M. Hahn, of Westland, Michigan, and her passenger, 63-year-old Kimberly A. Siegrist of Brighton, Michigan.
Two people in the F-150 also died. They were identified as driver Jeremy D. R. Boehne, 32, and passenger Karen M. Boehne, 33, both of Farmington, Michigan.
The driver of the tractor-trailer had minor injuries, the highway patrol said.
Inclement weather was a factor in the crash, according to the agency.
All southbound lanes remained closed for just under seven hours and were later reopened.
On Friday, four people died and multiple others were injured in a 46-vehicle pileup on the Ohio Turnpike.
3 dead in New York as storm blankets parts of state, traps residents, knocks out power
BUFFALO, N.Y — The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds causing whiteout conditions. Emergency response efforts were paralyzed and the city’s international airport was shut down.
At least three people died in the Buffalo area, including two who suffered medical emergencies in their homes and couldn’t be saved because emergency crews were unable to reach them amid historic blizzard conditions.
Deep snow, single-digit temperatures and day-old power outages sent Buffalo residents scrambling Saturday to get out of their houses to anywhere that had heat
Forecasters said 28 inches of snow accumulated as of Saturday in Buffalo. Last month, areas just south of the city saw a record 6 feet of snow from a single storm.
The latest storm knocked out the furnace in the Buffalo home of Brian LaPrade, who woke up Saturday morning to indoor temperatures dipping to below 50 degrees.
“This morning I had to go out and dig out the vents,” LaPrade said. “As it was, the snow was taller than my snow blower.”
Plows were on the roads, but large snow drifts, abandoned cars and downed power lines were slowing progress.
Western New York often sees dramatic lake-effect snow, which is caused by cool air picking up moisture from the warm water, then dumping it on the land. But even area residents found conditions to be dire on Christmas Eve.
Latricia Stroud said she and her two daughters, 1 and 12, were stranded without heat or power in their Buffalo house since Friday afternoon, with the snow too deep to leave.
“I have to go over a snowbank to get out,” Stroud told the AP. “There’s a warming center, I just need a ride to get there."
Christmas Eve travelers face thousands of flight cancellations and delays
More flights were canceled Saturday as the winter storm continued to batter the United States.
About 3,100 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled, and around 7,100 were delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com.
About 300 flights departing from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a major air traffic hub, were delayed, according to the site.
Flights through Chicago O’Hare International Airport, and Denver International Airport also accounted for several hundred delays and cancellations, according to FlightAware.
About 390,000 customers without power
The lights were back on for thousands of customers, but about 390,000 were still without electricity Saturday night, according to outage tracking site PowerOutage.us.
Outages remain in Washington state, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
More than a third of the outages were in Maine, where 142,335 customers were without power, according to the site.
The outage numbers are an improvement from a peak of more than 1.6 million.
Winter storm death toll climbs to 23
At least 23 people have died as a punishing winter storm continues its icy barrage on much of the country.
In Michigan, an 82-year-old woman was found dead Friday morning outside an assisted living facility in Bath Township, north of Lansing, local police said. A snow plow driver clearing the facility’s parking lot found the woman curled up in the snow. She was brought inside and treated for extreme cold exposure but died at a local hospital.
In New York, two weather-related deaths were recorded in Cheektowaga in Erie County and a third in the city of Buffalo, according to local officials.
And in Colorado, Denver officials said two people have died since Thursday from environmental exposure. A final cause and manner of death will be determined by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
Earlier, 17 deaths were recorded in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio.
