(AP/Getty)
Five people have been killed, a quarter of a million people are without power and 16,000 flights cancelled or delayed as a polar vortex swept the United States this holiday season.
A historic, “once-in-a-generation” winter storm is causing widespread disruptions to large portions of the nation heading into the holiday weekend. Around 60 per cent of Americans were under some form of winter weather warnings or advisories on Friday.
The frigid blast is causing winter weather hazards from the Canadian border south to the Rio Grande, Gulf Coast and central Florida Peninsula while spanning from the Pacific Northwest to the Eastern Seaboard – one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever.
Forecasters warned people to reconsider holiday travel plans and some major roads were closed due to treacherous conditions with temperatures plummeting as low as minus 70F in places.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the winter storm on Thursday and warned everyone to take it seriously. “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff,” he said.
Classes cancelled
The School District of Philadelphia, the largest in Pennsylvania, announced that Friday’s final classes of the calendar year would be held online rather than in-person as scheduled.
In Allegheny County in the western part of the state, public works spokesman Brent Wasko said officials would deploy 33 salt trucks but that pretreating the roads wasn’t an option because expected rainfall Thursday night and Friday morning would wash the salt away.
Louise Boyle23 December 2022 10:47
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National Weather Service warns 60 per cent of US population will be impacted
A “historic” winter storm is causing widespread disruptions to large portions of the nation heading into the holiday weekend, the National Weather Service warned in its latest update at 3am (eastern time) on Friday.
Over 200 million people, or roughly 60 per cent of the U.S. population, are under some form of winter weather warnings or advisories today as the powerful Arctic front is sweeping across the eastern third of the nation.
Heavy snow is forecast to blanket the Great Lakes region into northern New York State and northern New England while significant freezing rain possible across the Pacific Northwest.
Louise Boyle23 December 2022 10:34
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