Much of the United States is bracing for a “once in a generation” winter storm, as described by the National Weather Service (NWS), affecting primarily the Midwest and moving northeast.
US President Joe Biden himself on Thursday warned Americans to take the storm “extremely seriously” and to follow the recommendations of the authorities.
“This is indeed a very serious weather warning. And it goes from Oklahoma to Wyoming, and from Wyoming to Maine. And there are real consequences, so I encourage everyone, everyone to heed local warnings,” he told Oval Office reporters.
Biden stressed that this is not like an ordinary snow day, but that it is something “serious”, while revealing that his government has tried to contact the 26 governors of the affected states.
According to local media, temperatures as low as -59°F (-50°C) have been reached in northern Idaho, while some of the country’s major cities will face extreme conditions on Friday with -34°F (-36 0.6°C ) ) in Chicago, Illinois, -32°F (-35°C) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and -21°F (-29°C) in Denver, Colorado.
In its latest update on Thursday, the NWS is forecasting a “major freak storm” all weekend, with snow, high winds and “dangerous” low temperatures.
The meteorological phenomenon will range from the northern Great Basin, a watershed that includes Nevada, parts of Utah and California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, to the northern Midwest, the Great Lakes and the central and northern Appalachians.
The NWS has indicated that there will be “an unprecedented dangerous mass of cold air” from an Arctic front reaching the Ohio and Tennessee valleys tonight.
According to Flightaware’s website, there were a total of 1,724 flight cancellations within, to or from the United States this Thursday.
The airports most affected by the cancellations are O’Hare in Chicago, Chicago Midway and Denver.
Airlines have warned that snow, freezing winds and cold temperatures could affect travel from Seattle, on the country’s west coast, to Boston, in the northeast, or North Carolina, in the south.
The meteorological conditions are such that even a country like Canada, accustomed to snow and low winter temperatures, is facing an unusually extreme cold which is affecting the western provinces and which in the next few hours should extend to the east, with heavy snowfalls and winds. EFE extension
