AFP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
Much of the United States will experience arctic conditions in the coming days. The American Meteorological Institute warns against this. Until Christmas, the cold is rampant in the country and in some places snowfalls and winter thunderstorms are possible. It could be the coldest Christmas in the country in decades.
About 200 million Americans are affected. As the holidays approach, many domestic travel will be made difficult or even impossible due to snowfall and high winds. Bridges and roads freeze, and the extreme cold poses a great danger to those affected by a blizzard. An estimated 113 million Americans want to travel more than 80 kilometers to their Christmas destination starting tomorrow, but the question is whether that will work.
Emergency
Cold weather will spread to the south this weekend, with temperatures well below freezing all the way up the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Temperatures will hit 20s in every mainland state on Christmas Eve, according to the National Weather Service. North Carolina and Kentucky have declared states of emergency, several other states are also bracing for the cold.
Temperatures 40 degrees below average are possible in the northern Rockies and Great Plains near the Canadian border. According to the institute, “life-threatening cold winds” of up to 45 degrees below zero must also be taken into account there.
At the Denver airport yesterday the temperature dropped from 5 degrees above zero to 15 degrees below zero in one hour, a record for that location. Yesterday the airport canceled at least 145 flights due to snow, wind and low temperatures.
Today, it should number at least 219. Other airports are also canceling flights, and bus and train services, such as national rail company Amtrak, have canceled dozens of trips.
Airlines such as Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines do not charge additional flight change fees due to the extreme circumstances.
