A Massive Snowfall System That Will Bring More Deaths, Winds, and Hail to the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and Southern Hemisphere

A massive winter storm that’s killed about 50 people across the U.S. is expected to claim more lives as the frigid weather continues into the week. Buffalo’s mayor called the storm a once-in-a- generation storm, and more than half of the deaths occurred in western New York.

In California, 48 inches of snow fell in Twin Bridges in a 48-hour period, 46 inches fell in Tahoe-Donner, 45 inches in Donner Peak and 44 inches at Palsades Tahoe Ski Base.

The risk of damaging straight line winds from eastern Texas to south Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi is projected by the Storm Prediction Center.

There is a slight risk that the storm will bring tornadoes, strong winds, and huge hail to Dallas, Fort Worth, and New Orleans. Isolated tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds are possible in Houston, Memphis, and Little Rock.

This system will bring 5 to 9 inches of light fluffy snow across the region, with “the highest amounts just north and west of the Twin Cities,” said the weather service office in Twin Cities. While snow will steadily fall across the region, the high winds won’t kick in until Thursday.

A winter storm warning has been in effect for western Washington. Additional snowfall of up to 2 inches is possible and ice accumulations could reach a quarter of an inch. The precipitation will begin as snow and turn to sleet/ freezing rain in between. Travel will be very difficult because of more power outages.

The storm already made for icy and dangerous conditions on key roadways, with authorities on Saturday closing down a long stretch of Interstate 80, from Colfax in Northern California to Stateline, Nevada, due to “blowing snow & near-zero visibility,” Caltrans said on Twitter.

The National Weather Service in Reno is expecting the snow to be more than 25% normal, but it is more than that.

“It looks a lot like Christmas out here,” Deutschendorf said. “It didn’t come with a lot of wind, and it stuck to everything. It is similar to a picture postcard.

While he noted the snow totals so far are impressive, Deutschendorf said he is “cautiously optimistic” about this precipitation putting a big dent in the state’s drought.

Snowfall at Palisades Tahoe, California, on Sunday: More than 35 inches of snow over 24 hours, and the Northern Sky canceled through the weekend

“We’re Buried,” the Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort wrote on its website Sunday, sharing photos of thick snow covering the ski resort in Olympic Valley, California.

This is definitely a storm that will not be forgotten. We have been receiving 7.5 feet of snow since December 1. Plus, in just 24 hours from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, we received more than 35 inches of snow — the 6th largest snowfall total in 24 hours that we have on record,” resort operators wrote.

The coast-to-coast storm – which walloped the West over the weekend – is expected to strengthen as it pushes eastward Tuesday, and stall across the central Plains into Thursday, snarling travel amid blowing snow and freezing rain.

Wednesday: The storm will strengthen over the Northern Plains through the day as heavy snow falls across much of the Rockies, the Northern Plains and into the Midwest. Slick roads will lead to travel headaches and airport delays through places like Minneapolis, Omaha and Rapid City.

Wills said in the Monday evening update that there was not expected to be a quick burst of snow. Snow is “going to accumulate the highest in the northern Nebraska panhandle – and it’s going to be blowing around like crazy because of the strong winds that we’re going to have as well,” he said.

Travel through the area will be almost impossible Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service office in Rapid City.

In Minnesota, the National Weather Service issued various winter weather alerts, including a winter storm warning, an ice storm warning and a winter weather advisory. The Minnesota Department of Transportation said in a tweet Monday, “Challenging winter weather could impact travel statewide all week.”

In Anchorage, Alaska, an “unprecedented amount of snowfall” has led to schools being closed for four days and shut down the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University on Monday.

The Texas Panhandle Center Weather Prediction Center reports tornadoes hit South Central Louisiana and killed a boy in Shreveport, Louisiana

Tuesday also brings a risk of flash flooding due to excessive rainfall “from far east Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley,” warns the Weather Prediction Center. There could be up to four inches of rain.

The areas need the water and have had some relief from the dry conditions in the past week. This week the state of Tennessee went from 96 percent of the state to being at 42%.

There were at least five tornadoes confirmed across north Texas on Tuesday afternoon, but at least 12 may have occurred, the National Weather Service reported.

Dozens of homes and businesses were damaged and several people were hurt in the suburbs and counties stretching north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Over 100 flights were canceled and more than 1,000 flights were delayed by the storm, according to FlightAware.

A boy was killed when a tornado hit FourForts, Louisiana, about 10 miles north of Shreveport, Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said in a statement.

Trent Kelley, deputy director of the parks and recreation, said there was a tornado that blew the roof off the city’s service center.

Photos sent by the city showed the damage done to buildings, trees and power lines from the storm.

In Colorado, all roads were closed in the northeast quadrant of the state. The weather in the ranching region could affect the animals. Jim Santomaso is a northeast representative of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association.

The Boston-Newtonian Winter Weather System During the Last Days of Snow and Other High-Velocity Events: Weather Advisories for the New York and Boston Storms

New York and Boston can expect 1 to 2 inches of rain this weekend before the storm system pulls away from the region Sunday.

Millions of people are under winter weather advisories Friday as the massive storm system threatens to bring hazardous road conditions.

“We urge everyone in the impacted regions to avoid unnecessary travel tonight and tomorrow,” Hochul said in a Thursday statement. “Work from home if possible, stay off the roads, and make sure you and your loved ones remain vigilant.”

In anticipation of what will be a week of travel nightmares, United, American, Delta, Southwest and Jet Blue have issued travel waivers for dozens of airports across the country from the South to the Northeast, because in addition to snow covering roadways, low visibility could make air travel dangerous.

The powerful system that brought blizzard and winter weather alerts continues to move away from the Northeast, yet many cities and towns remain covered with thick snow. Over a 24-hour span, Baraga, Michigan, received 42.8 inches of snow while Watertown, New York, got 34.2 inches.

There were at least seven deaths due to the storm in the past few days, including: four dead in a pileup on the Ohio tounge, four motorists dead in separate crashes in Missouri and Kansas, and an Ohio utility worker killed by a falling branch.

And in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, the storm brought a quarter inch of ice was reported Thursday morning to the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, and about a tenth of an inch had built up in parts of Virginia.

Thousands of people in the Upper Midwest did not have proper heating as cold temperatures caused power lines to be knocked down.

Associated Storms and Weather Hazards in the Great Lakes Region: Colorado’s Coldest Day Revealed by a Long-Baseline Tornado

Meanwhile in Louisiana, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, and her 8-year-old son, Nikolus Little, were killed Tuesday when a tornado struck Caddo Parish and destroyed their home, local officials said.

Another tornado in northern Louisiana traveled through the town of Farmerville was rated an EF-3, with 140 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service. At least 20 people were injured, and the tornado demolished parts of an apartment complex and a mobile home park, Farmerville Police Detective Cade Nolan said.

The most widespread weather hazard over the next few days will be the dangerous cold . There are wind chill advisories for 25 states stretching from the Texas Gulf Coast to the US-Canadian border. The wind chill was expected to be minus 70 degrees in parts of Wyoming.

By Thursday morning there will be 10 degrees below zero in Denver, with a high of 47 on Wednesday. That would be the city’s coldest day in 32 years, according to the weather service. Cheyenne, Wyoming, recently dropped 32 degrees in just eight minutes.

Travel becomes very difficult or impossible when snow is expected, said the weather service. “This event could be life-threatening if you are stranded with wind chills in the 30 below to 45 below zero range.”

“This system will have increasingly widespread impacts to travel going into the busy holiday travel time late this week, along with the potential for power outages from the expected high winds, heavy snows, significant icing and overall increased power consumption in places,” NWS said Friday.

There’s a chance of snow in Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee on Thursday. Nashville could get an inch or two of snow, but the rest of the southern cities are not likely to see any.

Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

The National Weather Service described the low’s strength as a “once-in-a- generation” event, estimating it would reach the pressure equivalent of a Category 3 Hurricane as it crosses the Great Lakes.

First Grizzard Warning from the Chicagoland Blowout in the Last Three Days of Snow and Cold Instability, and How the Rockies Lowerd Their Temperatures

“This is a case in which snow totals may not tell the whole story. Poor visibility and slick spots can be caused by small snow amounts and very strong wind gusts. The sudden arrival of these conditions can increase the danger,” the weather service explained.

Snow will start in Chicago around noon Thursday lasting into Friday morning. Several inches of snow, combined with wind gusts of 50-60 mph could lead to the first blizzard warning in Chicago in more than four years.

The cold will come into the Deep South by late Friday as a result of the arctic front pushing south into the Gulf of Mexico. Houston will be below freezing from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon. The high in Houston at this time of year is 64 degrees. The forecast for Atlanta is 25 on Saturday, which would be the hottest Christmas Eve temperature on record.

The wind chill is expected to be around minus 25 when the temperature is 10 degrees below zero by sunrise. Tomorrow is likely to not make it above zero degrees.

The temperatures in the Rockies plunged at record pace because of the cold front. On Wednesday night in Cheyenne, Wyo., the temperature dropped more than 30 degrees in just nine minutes.

Weather Conditions in Arizona and Kentucky Are Preceding a Blizzard Superblizzard Earlier in the Day: Gov. Brian Kemp and State of Emergency

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Wednesday, saying, “Communities across the state are about to see temperatures that they haven’t experienced in a decade or more.”

The governor told reporters that the declaration would help ensure that propane can be delivered for both commercial and residential needs.

Andy Beshear declared an state of emergency in Kentucky, with the weather expected to be cold on Friday and wind gusts of up to 50 mph on Saturday. To have a backup heat source, Beshear asked residents to stay off roads.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also declared states of emergency Wednesday, and Maryland activated emergency response operations ahead of the winter storm.

As of Saturday afternoon, there were upwards of 2,800 cancellations of flights into, leaving and within the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Over 6,500 flights were delayed.

Nearly zero visibility on the roads led to many highway closures between Colorado and Wyoming Wednesday and they Wyoming Highway Patrol said it responded to nearly 800 calls for service in a 12-hour period, telling motorists to stay off the roads.

As blistering blizzard conditions swept the region, about 500 motorists found themselves stranded in their vehicles Friday night into Saturday morning, according to Poloncarz, who described frightening conditions on the road.

The Chicago, Denver and Newark Airport Holiday Flight Cancellations Are Expected to Be Busier this Year than They Did Last Year During the Pandemic

Airports in Chicago and Denver saw the bulk of cancellations and delays on Thursday. Chicago O’Hare International Airport was logging average delays Thursday of almost three hours due to snow and ice.

The temperature at the O Hare dropped to 9 degrees as the evening wore on. The National Weather Service reported snow and freezing fog.

The FAA said departing aircraft at Dallas Love, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Minneapolis airports require a spraying of de-icing fluid for safe travel.

Heavy rain and strong winds are likely to cause flight activity at LaGuardiaAirport to be disrupted. Travelers are told to confirm flight status with their airline before going to the airport. John F. Kennedy and Newark Airport have similar notices.

The TFAA advises passengers to arrive at the airport earlier than usual for those whose flights are still on.

John Busch, Reagan National Airport’s TSA federal security director, told reporters that all airports “expect to be busier this holiday season than we’ve been in several years coming out of the pandemic. The busiest days we’ve seen were yesterday and today, and on Friday we expect it to be even more busy as the New Year’s holiday approaches.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/21/business/thursday-flight-cancellations/index.html

Greyhound Alert for Intercity Bus Service in Twenty-Nearest Twenty-Area Cities Including Chicago, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Wichita, Kansas

Maria Ihekwaba, who was traveling from Chicago to Clear Lake, Iowa, with her granddaughter on Thursday morning, told CNN she was trying to depart as soon as possible.

Traveler Kari Lucas, from San Diego, told CNN she was visiting her sister and brother-in-law, but cut the trip short as she didn’t want to get caught in the impending weather.

She said she was worried because San Diego didn’t get these snowstorms. “So I don’t like it to be trapped in the airport for long periods of time.”

Meanwhile Greyhound, the largest provider of intercity bus service, issued a service alert Thursday evening indicating that trips in the Midwest or upper Northeast may be canceled or disrupted.

More than twenty cities are listed in the alert posted here. For the latest information about specific journeys, it advised passengers to check bustracker.greyhound.com.

The cities include Charleston, West Virginia; Chicago; Cleveland; Dallas Illinois; Davenport, Iowa; Denver; and Indianapolis. Minneapolis• St. Louis• Wichita, Kansas

In its notice, Amtrak said that “customers with reservations on trains that are being modified will typically be accommodated on trains with similar departure times or another day.

The Chicago – Midway Airport Winter Weather Warning During the Superstorm of January 21, 2021, and “Like Every Snow Day You’ve Ever Had” During President Biden’s Visit

President Biden spoke to reporters during a national map of wind chill forecasts, saying this was a very serious weather alert. “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff.”

In Texas, where a 2021 winter storm overwhelmed the state’s power grid and ultimately killed more than 200 people, officials said they expected the grid would hold up as forecasts called for cold weather but little precipitation.

The grid is reliable and ready, according to Peter Lake, chairman of the state’s Public Utility Commission. “We expect to have sufficient generation to meet demand throughout this entire winter weather event.”

Up to 8 inches of snow was expected in Chicago on Thursday and Friday, with temperatures expected to fall into the single digits.

The city’s major airports, O’Hare and Midway, serve as hub’s for major airlines and crews are working around the clock to keep flights moving.

“These hard-working individuals will have at their disposal more than 350 pieces of snow removal equipment, more than 400,000 gallons of liquid deicer for runways and taxiways, and more than 5,000 tons of salt,” said Andrew Velasquez, the city’s deputy aviation commissioner.

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Several area shelters had added beds this week; still, many reported being at or near capacity. Some people sought shelter on the streetcar after crews spent the night clearing the routes and platforms.

“The library is closed. So it’s only this or the bus, or you go into a parking garage, but you’ll probably get kicked out,” said Pete, who said he did not have a permanent place to live and declined to give his last name to KCUR. “There’s not much you can do.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/22/1144970060/winter-storm-holiday-travel

Montana Cowboys During the Last Week of High-Wind Winds: Power Outage, Snowplows, and Energy Conservation

It’s nothing new for Montana to see a worse winter in the last few years. “We know how to get through this, because we’ve been running cattle for a long time,” he said.

Hank stated that he would be working through the cold to keep his hay out for his animals.

Reporting was contributed by Eric Adelson from Orlando, Robert Chiarito from Chicago, Ann Hinga Klein from Des Moines, Jenna Russell from Marblehead, Mass., and Ellen Yan and Sarah Maslin Nir from New York.

High winds produced dangerous wind chill readings across the central and eastern U.S. last night, with the wind chill in Denver reaching -36 degrees Fahrenheit and Cheyenne, Wyo., falling to -51 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Our troopers, our highway maintainers, our snowplow drivers have been up all night long,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon told NPR Thursday. We feel good about our situation, because they’ve been doing a great job and we have traffic moving again.

Communities from coast to coast have lost power over the course of the week, but the worst of rolling blackouts appeared to have subsided. PJM said Sunday that utilities could meet the day’s demand after it initially asked 65 million customers to conserve energy.

The Denver Coliseum, Long Beach and Kansas City Warming Centers closed down Wednesday night after a two-hour blizzard

Denver has three warming centers that can be used by anyone who needs warmth. One of them, the Denver Coliseum, reached far past capacity Wednesday night, accommodating 359 people in a space meant for 225, the city of Denver said. All three centers will remain open through noon on Saturday.

The issue of homeless people in cold weather sparked online discussions about how to get them off the street.

“As a public defender, one of the clearest indicators of societal failure was when I’d meet new clients who purposefully got arrested so they’d find some warmth on Rikers Island instead of freezing to death on the street,” Columbia University lecturer and longtime public defender Scott Hechinger wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

All modes of travel were being disrupted, with hundreds of miles of road closure and flight cancelations increasing rapidly. A part of the Long Beach branch was temporarily shut down because of flooding on the Long Island Rail Road.

“Christmas is canceled,” said Mick Saunders, a Buffalo, New York, resident who was two hours into blizzard conditions that are expected to last through Sunday morning. “All family and friends agreed it’s safer this way.”

Three people have died in Kentucky due to the storm, of which two are vehicle crashes, Gov. Andy Beshear said. The man’s body was found outside with no obvious signs of trauma and an autopsy would determine the cause of death, police said.

In Kansas City, one person died after losing control of their Dodge Caravan on icy roads Thursday afternoon, according to the Kansas City Police Department. The police said that the Dodge went down the embankment and landed upside down in the creek.

Breaking the Kitchen Sink: Frozen December 24, 2015, Temperatures in Tampa, Florida, and Forecast for Washington, DC, according to the National Weather Service

Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Tallahassee, Florida are all likely to have their lowest temperatures ever recorded on December 24, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency said that the National Weather Service has made a graphic showing one of the largest amounts of winter weather advisories and warnings ever.

“I called it a kitchen sink storm because it is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink,” Hochul said at a press conference Friday afternoon. We have had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures and everything that Mother Nature could throw at us this weekend.

The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded — and shutting down the airport through Monday, according to officials.

He said that his mother and sister and their family live 30 minutes away. “We always get together for Christmas Eve and Christmas, but we’re all hunkering down in our houses until it all stops on Monday.”

Friday will bring record low temperatures from the Lower Mississippi Valley, northeast to the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, and stretching across large parts of the east and south.

Even if the snow stops, there are still high winds that can pick up snow already on the ground and cause low visibility.

The ice caused the closure of runways at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where nearly half of flights going into and out of the airport were canceled, according to FlightAware. Further, all express services for Sound Transit, a regional transportation network in the Seattle metro area, were suspended Friday due to the icy conditions.

A winter storm warning is also in effect for northeastern Oregon, including Portland, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. PST. There is a chance of snow, sleet, and ice in the area and winds gusting to 55 mph. Wind chills as low as zero are possible, and frostbite is possible on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.

The growing cancellation creates difficulties for passengers who want to arrive in time for Christmas. Before the storm disrupted travel schedules, flights this season were already more crowded than they have been before.

County officials urged people to stay put, even without heat or power, and asked the National Guard to assist with rescue operations. Hochul said the airport is closed until Monday.

The ground stops were posted for flights to and fro from Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, because of deicing.

Failed Alaska Airlines Flight Annihilation for An Outburst: Sam Phillips’s Journey Through Seattle and Other Destinations

Airlines allow passengers to rebook at no charge during the winter season. There are links to the airline waivers here.

The planes that are flying today are larger than they were in the past. If you find your flight is canceled or delayed, there’s not as many empty seats to switch onto.

In an alert posted on its website , the company said nearly 30 routes have been canceled for Friday, with a few cancellations listed on Saturday and Sunday. The cities that were impacted by the cancellation are Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Kansas City.

He was supposed to fly from Los Angeles to Seattle but his Alaska Airlines flight was canceled when he woke up.

He feels mostly disappointment but not a lot of surprise. I knew the weather was going to be bad, but I was hoping to get in before the rain hit,” he said.

Phillips says he will make the best of things — as he’s now planning to attend a friend’s holiday party he would have missed if he’d made it to Seattle.

It was cold enough that you could sit in a walk-in freezer and get naked, said Randy Hayden, who runs a 20,000-acre cattle Ranch in Gillette, Wyo.

The First Day of Christmas: Eleven Minutes Left of a Nashville Innkeeper’s Walk During the Cold Cumberland River

Many travelers were stuck at the airport when thousands of flights were canceled, as they were not going to be home for the holidays.

Sharisse Wooding said her flight back from New York was canceled and she was re-scheduling for Monday.

It was all “a little heartbreaking,” she said, lingering at La Guardia Airport as she tried to regroup. I shouldn’t be spending my Christmas break this way.

Nashville was without any tourists for the holiday season due to a layer of ice and snow.

Steam rose into freezing air off the Cumberland River as Kyle Elliott, 29, trudged above it on a pedestrian bridge, a guitar strapped on his back. Fifteen minutes into the walk, he could no longer feel his feet.

“I’ve never experienced weather this cold before,” said Mr. Elliott, a native of Tennessee. I have never felt my facial hair freeze before. I have now.”

Snowstorm and Ice Storms Hurry a Family Farm in Bluffalo, Iowa, During the Winter of 2004–2005 Sea Water Scattering

Angus cattle hurried up a pasture trail on Steve and Tara Agan’s farm about an hour south of Des Moines on Friday, eager to feast on silage and alfalfa.

Ms. Agan said she had the biggest challenge in keeping her fingers cold while bottle-feeding some of the calves. “But you don’t have a choice. You have to come out. The cows need fed in the winter just as much as they do in the summer.”

Goran Nedeljkovic, 59, a mail carrier in Chicago, said he was surprised that the postal service required letter carriers to complete their routes by foot on Friday.

He said that his fingers are cold through his gloves, his glasses are foggy, and his computer isn’t working because of the cold.

Many New Englanders reacted to the storm with a characteristic mix of stoicism and acceptance, even as downed trees and tidal surges knocked out power and closed roads. At the Landing, a brown-shingled restaurant at the edge of Marblehead Harbor, north of Boston, Dina Sweeney, the manager, stood outside watching the gray water heave and crash through the metal grates and railings at the harbor’s edge, scattering seaweed across the parking lot.

She said that the building had suffered a large amount of damage, despite the protective hatches that allow the ocean water to pass in and out.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/23/us/winter-storm-snow-weather/in-buffalo-families-huddle-in-dark-cold-homes

Inuffalo Families Huddle in Dark-Cold Homes: Caitlin Linney woke up before the power went out

Caitlin Linney, an electronic music artist, woke up on Friday at her parents’ rural home in Efland, about 40 minutes northwest of Raleigh, hoping to start her day with a Peloton yoga course, before realizing that they had no electricity.

Ms. Linney have a well on their 10-acre property. But no power meant no water to pump it. So on Friday afternoon, Ms. Linney, who had traveled from her home in Southern California for the holidays, was in nearby Durham, picking up Vietnamese food for lunch — as well as a good deal of bottled drinking water.

The power came back on at her parents’ house by midafternoon, but Ms. Linney was concerned it might go out again, particularly as temperatures were expected to plunge to 9 degrees on Friday night.

“We’re going to keep the wood stove on,” Ms. Linney said. They might have to ask to bunk at a neighbor’s house if the power goes out again.

Most of the action at Ponce City Market was inside as shoppers ran their errand two days before Christmas.

At a Marine Layer store, an employee of the store wore a poofy winter coat and white wool hat while waiting on customers. The door would open and the wind and cold would come in. Ms. Velasco was not happy when she moved to Atlanta from Houston.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/23/us/winter-storm-snow-weather/in-buffalo-families-huddle-in-dark-cold-homes

The Phoenix Firefighter’s Guide: What is Happening at an Emergency Shelter? Keishaun and Joe Johnson in Los Alamos

Emergency shelters were opened for residents who lack the basics, as well as serving hot food and giving out supplies.

The weekend is expected to be cold for Keishaun Johnson, whose three children, dog and lack of a stable housing situation are causing him worry.

She and her family went to a homeless shelter in downtown Disney to get supplies for the cold weather.

She said they had jackets, blankets, all the hygiene stuff, clothes, and socks. This weekend is coming up and I’m better off because it was really scary.

Lines at Chicago O’Hare International Airport appeared to be shorter than the day before, and some travelers said they were pleasantly surprised at the lack of chaos.

The Netzels were waiting to go to Phoenix with their 3-year-old daughter and Joe thought he wouldn’t be able to get in the door. “But our flight is on time.”

There have been at least six deaths in crashes and at least four deaths in a pileup on the Ohio turnpike.

Winter Storm Travel: The Power Outage Dangerous Conditions for a Power Supply System in the Nashville and Hudson Rivers of New Jersey, As reported by WPLN

WPLN’s Blake Farmer reported that as the front hit, parts of the South experienced wind chills of minus 20 degrees, and gusting winds knocked out power to thousands of homes across Tennessee and Kentucky. Emergency responders asked people in the region to stay home if possible.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking local utilities to cut their electricity use as pressure builds on a power grid that isn’t accustomed to the cold. Customers in Nashville will experience 10-minute outages every few hours, until the power load stabilizes.

Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison that getting the power restored in weather like this is a significant challenge.

Accessing these areas can be a challenge due to downed power lines, trees and icy roads. … The crews can’t go up in bucket trucks unless the wind is over 35 miles an hour. The power is out and crews don’t have the ability to get there.

There were storms and high winds that knocked down power lines and caused the flooding along the coast of New Jersey. Interior locations along the Hudson River also flooded.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/24/1145419116/winter-storm-travel-power-outage-dangerous-conditions

The Big Blizzard of ’77: Multiple deaths in the Midwest due to snowfall and power failures in the First Day of the Winter Storm

“So that will affect anyone who’s got a connecting flight, and we’re going to see a lot of people missing connecting flights with these long delay times,”Bangs said.

Saturday’s delays and cancellations follow days of disruption as the storm swept across the country, bringing bone-chilling temperatures and whiteout conditions, with reports of a “bomb cyclone” extreme weather pattern near the Great Lakes.

On its service alerts page, UPS listed impacted states and zip codes. It had warned previously that some delivery and pickup services may be affected.

FedEx said that severe winter weather had resulted in significant disruptions at two of their processing hub, adding that delays can be expected for package deliveries across the US.

As of Friday, the USPS said it had temporarily shut down 89 post offices, and Amazon said it “temporarily closed” some of its sites in the impacted areas.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday to ride out the winter storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

Local authorities have reported storm-related deaths from a host of causes. The 27-year-old was poisoned by carbon monoxide after the furnace in his house malfunctioned. In Ohio, a utility worker was electrocuted. A woman fell through ice. A falling branch claimed the life of a Vermont resident. Six people were killed in crashes in Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma.

“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed Blizzard of ’77 for its ferocity,” Mark Poloncarz, the Erie County executive, said on Saturday.

Some people were trapped in cars on Saturday as darkness fell and emergency workers continued to rescue them. With the snow falling and no safe way to stay out of the cold, some residents were going to spend another night at home without power.

Buffalonians were forced to leave their homes Saturday because of the freezing conditions and power problems. When the streets were under a heavy blanket of white, Jeremy Manahan wasn’t able to charge his phone in his car.

The fight between a homeless man and a New York city storm in the early 1990s, when two people were trapped under a hot and cold storm

The fight was complicated by drivers disobeying travel bans and becoming stuck or stranded, blocking roads for emergency traffic.

“Everyone is like, ‘Oh, you’re from Buffalo, you’re used to this,’” said Tommy Bellonte, 37, who briefly emerged from his Buffalo home Saturday morning to check on a neighbor. You can not get used to it.

Some residents of the beachfront areas in New York City might have to leave their homes for Christmas after a storm surge caused flooding, according to the Queens borough president.

At least 17 deaths were attributed to the storm, including a dozen in traffic accidents across four states. The police in Castleton, Vt., confirmed that a female was killed by a falling tree. The spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner said there was a death in the Chicago area. The homeless person died trying to set a fire to keep warm in Houston, according to the mayor.

As the cold tightened its grip, cities and towns opened warming shelters in fire stations and school gymnasiums, and residents sought shelter, some after spending Friday night in unheated homes, huddled under blankets and clustered around fireplaces in the dark.

After a day without power, Shantel Moncrief and her husband attempted to sleep in their apartment in south Nashville on Friday night layered in sweaters and blankets. Too cold to rest, they moved into their car at 2 a.m., and at 6 a.m., relocated to her mother’s house.

Misty and Dan Ellis arrived at the airport for check-in at 3 a.m. with their teenage children. After their flight was canceled, each of the family was assigned a different flight, said Mr. Ellis.

The family decided to rent a car instead and drive 14 hours to their home in Nashville. The cost would be hefty, Mr. Ellis said, but he did not mind paying it.

A New York City Christmas Eve Snowy Event During the First Day of the November 4th Snowmass as the New York State Department of Energy declared an Emergency

As darkness fell in Western New York on Saturday and temperatures crept even lower, thousands of utility workers and plow drivers faced another long night of work to restore power and clear roads. With snow forecast to continue, and travel bans still in effect, stores were empty of last-minute shoppers, and streets mostly silent.

Frank Anderson, 50, was stuck in deep snow in his large white pickup truck on Saturday for the second time since wrapping up his shift as a prison guard.

He wore a New York State correction and community supervision emblem on his jacket and sweater, but his truck’s tires were spinning on ice as he tried to get back to his wife and children. He was about “a mile from home” in the suburb of Tonawanda.

Euan Ward , Eliza Fawcett , Isabella Grullón Paz , Bob Chiarito, Jamie McGee, Ellen Yan, April Rubin, Sharon Dunten and Maria Jimenez Moya contributed reporting.

New York City saw record cold temperatures on Christmas Eve at several locations, including its JFK and LaGuardia airports. The Central Park temperature was 15 degrees, the second-coldest December 24 of all time, according to the National Weather Service.

New York’s energy companies are telling customers to conserve energy, in part because of the high demand for natural gas and extreme weather conditions.

The PJM Interconnection serves 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Meanwhile, a shortage of electricity in Texas prompted the US Department of Energy to declare an emergency Friday, allowing the state’s energy provider to exceed environmental emissions standards until energy usage drops.

Two deaths due to the Christmas Eve snowfall in Jackson, California, via a high-pressure water system on Dec. 1. Connecticut, a federal emergency declaration of emergency

The cold weather is making it more difficult to repair a large water main break in Jackson, which has led to a loss of water pressure for residents.

“We are grateful to the crews who are braving these frigid temperatures on this Christmas Eve night, while working to restore pressure to residents. Their sacrifice does not go unnoticed and is appreciated not only by this administration, but also by every resident who is affected,” the release stated.

The National Guard was called in to help medical workers get to work and to rescue people that are stuck in vehicles because colleagues had been working for more than a day.

In Seattle, Washington, online videos have documented cars sliding on the icy roads and bumping into each and residents slipping as they walked on sidewalks, CNN affiliate KOMO reported.

“I’ll be asking the federal government for a declaration of emergency that’ll allow us to seek reimbursements for the extraordinary expenses of all the overtime and the fact that we brought in mutual aid from other parts of the state,” Hochul said to reporters Saturday. Utility crews come but also make sure that we have the vehicles we need.

The loss of two lives in Buffalo was related to the lack of life-saving medical help in the storm, Hochul said.

• Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, reported two deaths related to the cold since Thursday, with one man found near a power transformer of a building possibly looking for warmth, and another in a camp in an alleyway.

The low-pressure system is expected to move farther away into Canada, while another system is expected to cause snow in the northern Plains by Monday.

According to the Weather Service, another low pressure system will come from the Pacific by Christmas night into Monday where it will bring another surge of water to the Pacific Northwest and northern California.

When a car gets stuck: Ditjak Ilunga and his family walk through a cold, windy, muddy, frostbitted neighborhood

There is one warming shelter, but it would take me too far to get to it. I can’t drive, obviously, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “If you want to be outside for more than a few minutes, you have to get frostbit.”

We have to go to a warming center, not just pick up everybody. “We don’t have the capacity to do that,” Poloncarz said. “Many, many neighborhoods, especially in the city of Buffalo, are still impassable.”

Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters Friday when their SUV was trapped in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running in the vehicle buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.

By 4 a.m. Saturday, with their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga made a desperate choice to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried their dog on his back, while Cindy had to pick up their puppy as they walked through the snow.

He thought that he would die with his kids if he stayed in the car. The family walked through the doors and he cried. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”

Crossing the road from Alabama to Buffalo to Mexico for Christmas with stranded workers at the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement Enforcement

In Mexico, migrants camped near the U.S. border were facing unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions preventing many from seeking asylum.

Along Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband, Rick, weathered a 34-hour traffic jam in a rig outfitted with a diesel heater, a toilet and a refrigerator after getting stuck trying to drive from Alabama to their Ohio home for Christmas.

Buffalo will continue to see snowfall and frigid cold temperatures Monday, with a high of 23 degrees expected in the daytime and a low of 18 at night, according to the National Weather Service.

Vivian Robinson of Spirit of Truth Urban Ministry in Buffalo said she and her husband have been sheltering and cooking for 60 to 70 people, including stranded travelers and locals without power or heat, who were spending Saturday night at the church.

Many of the people arrived with their clothing covered in snow and ice. They were going to spend Christmas together.

“It’s emotional just to see the hurt that they thought they were not going to make it, and to see that we had opened up the church, and it gave them a sense of relief,” Robinson said. “Those who are here are really enjoying themselves. It’s going to be a different Christmas for everyone.”

New York City Council Chairman Rob Poloncarz urged citizens of Erie County to stay off the roads as a winter driving ban for motorists in the coming week

Daylight revealed cars nearly covered by 6-foot snowdrifts and thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, dark from a lack of power. With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned that an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph.

“Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowbanks,” said Poloncarz. There are people stuck in cars for more than a couple of days.

PJM Interconnection said its utilities could meet the day’s peak electricity demand and that alleviated fears of rolling blackouts in eastern states. The grid operator called on consumers to conserve energy Saturday after the cold spell.

In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced that residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures While in Tampa, Florida, the thermometer plunged below freezing for the first time in almost five years, according to the National Weather Service — a drop conducive to cold-blooded iguanas falling out of trees.

In Buffalo, the man is William Kless. He called his three children at their mother’s house to wish them Merry Christmas and then headed off on his snowmobile for a second day spent shuttling people from stuck cars and frigid homes to a church operating as a warming shelter.

Through heavy, wind-driven snow, he brought about 15 people to the church in Buffalo on Saturday, he said, including a family of five transported one-by-one. He got a man in need of treatment, who was stuck in his car for 17 hours, and was able to come back home to get the treatment he needed.

As a massive winter storm continues to blast parts of the US with brutal winter weather that is leading to at least 37 deaths nationwide, many people are stuck in their cars in western New York due to snow caused by the Christmas weekend.

“We’re still in the throes of this very dangerous life-threatening situation,” Hochul said, urging residents to stay off the roads as a driving ban remains in place in Erie County through Monday.

The Buffalo City Council declared a snowstorm in the next few days. Snowfall and icy roads are expected to continue for a few more days

“Think about looking just a few feet in front of you at a sheet of white for more than 24 hours in a row. He said it was like that outside in the worst conditions. It was so white that no one could see where they were going. Nobody had a clue what was happening.

While abandoned vehicles pepper the snow-covered roadways – with hundreds of cars still along the streets of Buffalo – conditions are also difficult inside homes.

Some residents have remained in their homes for the last 56 hours, some without power in the freezing cold, Hochul said during the press conference. This isn’t due to a lack of resources but rather a challenge faced by utility companies.

Winter storm warnings remain in effect in New York for Buffalo, Jamestown and Watertown and will expire throughout the following couple of days. In addition, Buffalo could see another 14 inches, and Watertown could see another 3 feet. There is a chance of gusts of up to 40 mph.

Lake-effect snows will continue to make for hazardous travel conditions for the next couple of days and conditions are expected to slowly improve over the week.

Much of the rest of the eastern part of the country will still be in a deep freeze through Monday before a moderating trend sets in on Tuesday, forecasters said.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told NPR’s Morning Edition that his city’s emergency responders have gone “car by car” to perform hundreds of rescues of stranded motorists.

“This has been called a generational storm — a once-in-a-generation storm,” Brown said. It is unlike anything that the city of Buffalo has experienced before.

How far are we from achieving that goal? The long-term plan at the NGL is working aggressively with the electric grid to help protect the public power restored?

“That number is now below 10,000, and we will continue to work aggressively and strategically with National Grid all day today to continue to reduce that number and get everyone’s power restored,” he added, referring to the local utility.

It’s still a good idea to be cautious when venturing outside, as the high wind speeds and low temperatures can cause frostbite in less than 10 minutes.