Millions in US brace for ‘dangerous Arctic blast’
Exposure to the likes of minus 45 degrees Celsius without proper clothing can lead to hypothermia very quickly, experts warn
Snow fell over parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on Friday in a frosty prelude to a monster winter storm expected to converge with bitter Arctic cold and engulf much of the United States over the weekend from the Rockies to the Eastern Seaboard.
Forecasts called for heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain, accompanied by dangerously frigid temperatures, to sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation, threatening to upend travel and spawn widespread power outages.
At least 14 states and the District of Columbia declared weather emergencies as of Friday morning, and major US airlines warned passengers to stay alert for abrupt flight changes and cancellations.
“This is a mean storm,” said Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist at the US Weather Prediction Centre in Maryland, calling it the biggest so far this season in terms of intensity and scope.
Government warnings and advisories for winter storm conditions, ice storms and extreme cold were posted from the southern Rockies east to the mid-Atlantic Coast and New England, encompassing well over 200 million Americans.
Snowfall totals were likely to exceed a foot in the hardest-hit areas of the Rockies, the Plains, the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.