Much of the US is experiencing the coldest Christmas in decades. winter storm Elliott it brought heavy snow and freezing winds. In New York, the thermometer showed minus 14 degrees on Saturday morning (local time), in Chicago it was minus 17. In the state of Montana, minus 40 degrees Celsius was measured early Saturday morning. According to the US Weather Service, even a few minutes in the cold could lead to frostbite.
Several people have died from the storm so far, mostly in weather-related traffic accidents, as reported by the NBC television station. There was a rear-end collision involving more than 50 vehicles on a highway in the state of Ohio. Four people died and many more were injured.
In Erie County, New York State, 911 services were temporarily overwhelmed. Marc Poloncarz, the district manager, invited on Twitter to call the emergency number only in “the most critical and life-threatening cases” to keep the lines free. He urged residents to stay in their homes despite power and heating outages. Transportation to emergency shelters is currently nearly impossible.
As CNN reports, about 500 drivers and their vehicles were left in the snow in Erie County Friday night to Saturday. Even Saturday afternoon US time, most of them still hadn’t been released.
More than 1.7 million people were temporarily without electricity on Saturday, with the number still standing at 800,000, according to CNN on Saturday afternoon. Most of those affected live in the eastern states. In the United States, numerous power lines still run above ground, not just the high-voltage lines, but also the connections in most settlements. The electricity grid infrastructure in the US is significantly more vulnerable than in Germany, for example. A large energy supplier in the eastern United States has urged customers to conserve electricity due to capacity bottlenecks. Only essential appliances should remain on.
US citizens are significantly less prepared for snow and ice than the standards used in Alpine countries, for example, despite the frequent onset of winter. For example, many drivers do not have suitable tyres. Clearing and sandblasting services often don’t work as efficiently as they do in Europe.
“Mother Nature is asking us all this weekend”
In fact, however, the current weather conditions are extreme, even by American standards. US media have warned of a so-called “bomb cyclone”, a meteorological phenomenon in which air pressure drops dramatically in a short time and increases the strength of the storm.
Temperatures of minus 45 degrees Celsius had already been measured the day before Christmas in the states of Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming. According to meteorologists, temperatures in Denver, Colorado dropped about 40 degrees in 24 hours as the Arctic cold front passed, and New York City also recorded a 23 degree drop in temperature. “Mother Nature is asking for all that she has to offer this weekend,” said New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Several cities, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, are likely to hit temperatures below freezing on December 24th. The cold also penetrates areas usually spared, such as the state of Florida.
A snowplow in Detroit.
(Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images via AFP)
However, the region around the five Great Lakes, the great lakes in the northeastern United States, is particularly affected by winter weather. During Saturday, the storm low Elliott increasingly moved eastward from the North and Midwest.
Around the city of Buffalo in upstate New York, more than 2 feet of fresh snow fell Friday through Saturday. On Saturday, according to forecasts by meteorologists, another 30 centimeters should be added. Strong winds, some with speeds over 100 kilometers per hour, have led to snowdrifts and extremely limited visibility, a situation that meteorologists in the United States also refer to as a “whiteout”.
Elliott upset the travel plans of tens of thousands of Americans. Nearly 6,000 flights were canceled on Friday and another 2,600 on Saturday. There have been chaotic scenes at major airports. Video posted by the Weather Channel’s website showed an armada of snowplows attempting to clear the tarmac at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
More than 200 million Americans have received severe weather alerts on their smartphones. The US Weather Service has called for extreme caution. Traveling in these conditions is “extremely dangerous and sometimes impossible,” she said. The President also intervened: “This is not like a snow day as a child,” warned Joe Biden.
