A severe winter storm brings heavy snowfall, strong winds, and dangerously cold temperatures to the central United States on Thursday. Conditions are expected to worsen over the rest of the week, forecasters warned.
According to the National Weather Service, the powerful storm is expected to “have far-reaching destructive and potentially crippling effects across the central and eastern United States.”
Low temperatures combined with strong winds lead to windbreaks of up to minus 40 degrees in some areas, which can lead to frostbite within minutes.
What you should know
- A significant and disruptive storm system will involve a variety of weather hazards in the coming days, including record-breaking cold, strong winds, life-threatening wind chills, freezing rain, and heavy snowfall.
- The storm is causing temperatures to drop rapidly in some parts of the country, with temperatures dropping by 30 or more degrees in just a few hours. The storm is expected to become a bomb cyclone early on Friday.
- The storm is causing travel chaos in the USA.
More than 1,800 flights have been canceled as the storm worsens
More than 1,800 flights to and from airports in the United States were canceled on Thursday afternoon, according to FlightAware.com. Almost 4,000 flights within, to or from the USA were delayed in total.
On Thursday morning, Chicago O’Hare International Airport said in a tweet that the airlines there had preemptively canceled almost 470 flights.
Der Bürgermeister von Boston warnt vor gefährlich niedrige Temperaturen während eines Wintersturms
School districts across the country say the lessons
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Some school districts in the US have announced closures on Thursday and Friday as the major winter storm system brings snow, wind and freezing temperatures to much of the country. Schools in Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Virginia and Maryland were among the many schools that closed on Thursday to prepare for dangerous winter conditions.
The following are some of the districts that are canceling classes on Friday:
- Syracuse City School District in New York
- Buffalo Public Schools in New York
- Beaver Dam Unified School District in Wisconsin
- Bloomfield Hills Schools in Michigan
- University of Northern Colorado
- Pittsburgh Public Schools in Pennsylvania
- Blooming Prairie Public Schools in Minnesota
Indian tribes announce mass closures of reservations
Native American reservations in several states have closed offices and blocked roads due to hazardous weather conditions, and are also struggling with supply bottlenecks.
With temperatures falling well below freezing on Thursday in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, several tribal councils asked residents to stay home and off the roads.
The Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota issued a “travel advisory” on Wednesday due to cold weather and poor visibility after being hit by snow. The tribal council warned that immobilized vehicles on the road would be fined and removed to keep escape routes clear.
According to KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, the reserve reported propane shortages earlier this week, which in turn caused water pipes to freeze over and families without heat or drinking water.
“We’re running out of a lot of equipment,” Robert Oliver, the tribe’s emergency manager, told KELO. “Some of our equipment is broken. We have a lot of people out there who need propane, firewood, and groceries.”
In western Montana, the Confederate Salish and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Reservation announced the closure of office and school districts at temperatures of minus 26 on Thursday. The health clinics on the reserve were open with minimal staffing and reserved for emergencies.
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Timber delivery and plowing were suspended on the Blackfoot Reservation in Browning, Montana due to severe wind chills and for “staff safety.” The reserve closed the grocery store and casino early Wednesday.
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota granted administrative leave to many “non-essential employees” on Thursday due to the extreme weather.
In Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the Osage Nation closed tribal offices and health services on Thursday.
Wann wird der Sturm in Ihrer Region am stärksten sein?
Millionen von Menschen im ganzen Land werden in den kommenden Tagen mit starkem Schneefall, starken Winden und klirrenden Temperaturen konfrontiert sein. Dies ist eine unvollständige Liste, wo und wann die Bedingungen voraussichtlich am schwerwiegendsten sein werden:
- Laut dem National Weather Service bewegt sich am Donnerstag eine „rekordverdächtige kalte Luftmasse“ über die südlichen Ebenen. Böen von bis zu 60 mph können in weiten Teilen des Intermountain West zu Windkältern von bis zu minus 40 Grad führen.
- Bis Donnerstagabend werden in Teilen von Texas und der Golfküste voraussichtlich Temperaturen im einstelligen oder im Zehnerbereich herrschen. Meteorologen von CNNBreakingNews.net sagen, dass die Temperaturen in Dallas 72 Stunden lang unter den Gefrierpunkt fallen könnten, wobei die niedrigste Windkälte von minus 6 Grad am späten Donnerstag kommt.
- Im oberen Mittleren Westen und in der Region der Großen Seen wird es am Donnerstag und Freitag Schnee und starke Winde geben. Die niedrigste Windkälte, die in Chicago erwartet wird, liegt bei etwa minus 30 Grad, und die stärksten Windböen der Stadt könnten am Freitagmorgen 50 Meilen pro Stunde erreichen.
- Washington, D.C., wird am Donnerstagnachmittag und -abend starker Regen erwartet, dann am Freitagmorgen ein Sturzfrost und am Nachmittag die stärksten Winde.
- In New York City wird am späten Donnerstag bis Freitagmorgen starker Regen prognostiziert. In der Stadt wird es am Freitagmorgen wahrscheinlich die stärksten Winde mit Böen von bis zu 50 Meilen pro Stunde und dann am Nachmittag zu Sturzfrosten geben.
- Und in Orlando werden die Temperaturen am Samstagmorgen voraussichtlich auf 31 Grad sinken, wobei der Wind in den niedrigen 20ern liegt.
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What is a blizzard?
Cities across the country were warned of snow gusts on Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, this winter weather phenomenon is characterized by sudden white-out conditions that make visibility difficult. Snow gusts move quickly and are often accompanied by severe cold fronts and low temperatures.
Snow gusts generally last less than an hour, but are particularly dangerous for car drivers. Traffic accidents often occur under these conditions due to the accumulation of snow, strong winds, falling temperatures and poor visibility.
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Numerous warnings were issued against snow gusts. In the Wichita, Kansas area, warnings were issued until 10 a.m. local time. The snow gust warning for Bartlesville, Oklahoma lasted until 10:15 a.m. local time. And in Rapid City, South Dakota, forecasters warned until 2 PM local time.
“Please take this storm seriously,” Biden pleads
Joe Biden, president of
, on Thursday called on people threatened by “dangerous, threatening” weather to heed local warnings.
In a statement just before a briefing with FEMA and the National Weather Service, he said he had tried to contact 26 governors whose states are affected by the extreme weather.
Biden emphasized that this is “not a snow day if you’re a child,” and called on the public to “please take this storm seriously.”
“If you have travel plans, leave now—no joke,” the president said, adding that he had advised his staff to do the same.
Biden: “Take this storm extremely seriously”
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Storm leaves car drivers stranded in South Dakota and causes nearly 50 accidents in Minnesota
State Patrol said Minnesota authorities responded to nearly 50 vehicle accidents between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Four people were injured but no deaths were reported. Wet roads also caused 118 vehicle failures and an accident involving a tractor-trailer, the State Patrol said.
In South Dakota, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, some motorists are stranded on city roads due to the winter storm system. Workers have been removing people from their cars throughout the night. A photo from the agency showed people sleeping on makeshift beds on the floor of a building.
114 million people are affected by winter weather warnings
As the huge storm system floods 114 million people in the United States have winter weather warnings, and blizzard warnings are in effect in parts of eight states.
More than 120 million people are at risk of wind chill alarms. According to forecasters, temperatures in some areas have fallen by more than 30 degrees within a few minutes. By the time the weather system is implemented, an estimated 192 million people in 46 states will have experienced sub-zero wind chills.
Residents in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and the Plains woke up Thursday morning to snowing, while areas in the Southeast as far away as Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania were hit by a messy wintry mix and heavy rains.
As the storm moves across the northern Ohio Valley, it is expected to become a bomb cyclone.
Weather forecasters warn that heavy rain could cause coastal flooding in cities like Boston and New York. New York City has a flood warning on Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m.; in Boston, there is a warning on Friday from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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NHL cancels game due to “severe winter storm”
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Friday’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres was postponed due to the “severe winter storm,” the NHL said in a statement.
The game will instead be played at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center on March 4, the statement said.
Atlanta opens heat centers
Atlanta will open two emergency warming centers due to the impending drop in temperature. The locations open at 8:00 PM on Thursday and remain open until Tuesday morning.
Despite delays, public holiday mail deliveries are on track for Christmas
How will the winter storm system affect package delivery?
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service says it is on track to meet its delivery deadlines with just a few days until Christmas, despite labor shortages across the country that have caused delays and disruptions in mail and package delivery ahead of the holidays.
The Postal Service expects all priority mail packages sent by December 19 and all express packages sent by December 23 to arrive at their destinations by Christmas. According to the agency, on-time deliveries have increased compared to the previous year. Almost 92% of first-class letters arrive within one to five days. According to independent data company Shipmatrix, around 96% of parcels arrived at their destination on time this month.
It’s a huge improvement over the state of the postal service at this time two years ago, when a wave of Covid infections, a surge in online shopping and operational issues led to week-long delays in holiday packages.
Read the full article here.
Starker Schneefall im Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Traveling in the Great Lakes region will be “dangerous,” forecasters warn
Land and air travel in the Great Lakes region will be “dangerous” and “sometimes impossible” ahead of the holiday weekend, the National Weather Service warned on Thursday.
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Snowfall could exceed one foot, the weather service said in a bulletin, adding that “wind gusts of over 50 miles per hour will result in near zero visibility and significant snowblows and drifting of snow.”
“This will result in dangerous, sometimes impossible land and air travel until the holiday weekend,” the bulletin states.
In Kansas wurden fast Schneestürme gemeldet
Denver International Airport recorded a record drop in temperature
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Temperatures in Denver are expected to fall below zero by Thursday morning, the National Weather Service warned.
Forecasters reported that on Wednesday at Denver International Airport, the temperature fell by 37 degrees in an hour — from 42 F to 5 F — a record drop in this location.
“These types of changes are going to happen as this front moves south: rapid drops in temperature, sometimes 50 or more degrees colder than the previous day,” said Bob Oravec, forecaster at the weather service. “It’s a pretty powerful, powerful system.”
Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois face the Winter Battle on Thursday
According to forecasters, Green Bay, Wisconsin, St. Louis and Chicago could be among the major cities hit hardest by a freezing winter storm that covers much of the country on Thursday.
Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas, could get rain and snow on Thursday afternoon and evening, and Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City could rain heavily, according to CNNBreakingNews.net’s Climate Unit.
Freezing temperatures could already be felt further west. Snow began falling in Minnesota on Wednesday. From 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, there were more than 200 vehicle accidents and 189 outages, the State Patrol said. There were no deaths.
According to the National Weather Service, more than 59 million people, including most areas from Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota east to parts of Ohio, were warned of winter storms Wednesday evening.
An additional 7 million were warned of snowstorms, and 57 million people were warned of wind chills, according to the agency, all the way to Washington state in the west, including Texas and Tennessee. Fort Worth, Texas, was forecast to reach a low of 11 degrees on Thursday. The cold wind will make it feel even worse.
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Airlines have pledged to waive rebooking fees or take other measures to help passengers in anticipation of travel disruptions.
More than 100 cars are stuck in South Dakota, authorities say
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In South Dakota, more than 100 drivers were helped who were stranded when an arctic front hit the region with freezing temperatures and almost a blizzard, officials said.
The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said drivers were stuck between Rapid City and Wall. It told drivers to stay in their vehicles and call 911.