MISSION, Kansas (AP) – Millions of Americans endured freezing temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and canceled holiday gatherings Friday due to a near-record winter storm that is placing 60 percent of the population on some sort of warning for bad weather.
More than 200 million people were on alert Friday, the National Weather Service said. The winter cold map “represents one of the longest warnings in history,” meteorologists said.
More than 3,400 flights within, to or from the United States were canceled on Friday, according to tracking site FlightAware. Some airports, including Seattle-Tacoma International, have closed their runways.
More than 458,000 homes and businesses were without electricity on Friday morning.
The huge storm spread from border to border. In Canada, WestJet canceled all flights at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Friday, starting at 9:00am. And in Mexico, migrants have been waiting near the US border in unseasonably cold temperatures for the Supreme Court’s decision on the validity of Title 42, a measure that prevents many from seeking asylum.
“This is not like a snowy day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday after a briefing with federal officials. “This is serious.”
Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — which occurs when air pressure drops very rapidly during a severe storm — has developed near the Great Lakes, bringing blizzard conditions, including high winds and snow.
Activists have also been quick to get the homeless out of the cold. In Chicago, Andy Robledo spent his day organizing efforts for the homeless who received tents, propane stoves and other supplies through his nonprofit, Feeding People Through Plants.
The Weather Service predicts the coldest Christmas in two decades in Philadelphia, where classes have either taken place online on Fridays or been canceled altogether.
In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem has activated the state National Guard to transport firewood from the Black Hills Forest Service to the Sioux Rosebud Tribe.
Most of western Michigan and parts of northern Michigan were under blizzard warning. The Detroit Zoo and an art museum have closed.
Byron Brown, mayor of Buffalo, New York, urged people to stay home as forecasters warned that 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) of snow could fall over the weekend.
In New England, heavy rains and wind gusts of more than 60 miles (96 kilometers per hour) cut power to about 150,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. There have been another 100,000 blackouts in Connecticut.
