Subfreezing temperatures across much of the US left millions of Americans facing potentially dangerous cold on Sunday as Arctic storms threatened near-blizzard conditions in the north-east and several inches of snow in portions of the south.
The National Weather Service warned that windy, subfreezing conditions in Montana and the Dakotas could push wind chills as low as -70F (-56C).
An estimated 95 million people were under weather warnings or advisories for wind chills -0F (-17 C), according to the weather service. Forecasters said the severe cold could push as far south as northern Texas.
Officials warned people to say off the roads in Buffalo, New York, where snowfall of 1 to 2ft (0.3 to 0.6 meters) was forecast. The severe storm forced the postponement of the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL playoff game from Sunday to Monday. Wind gusts as high as 50mph (80kph) were also possible, said Zack Taylor, a National Weather Service meteorologist in College Park, Maryland.
“They’re expected to see both the intense snowfall, but also the extreme wind,” Taylor said. “That’s why they’re expecting to see near-blizzard conditions at times.”
Taylor warned of risks of frostbite and hypothermia in Iowa, which will hold its Republican caucuses on Monday. The forecast for Monday in Des Moines, the state capital, was a low of -18F (-28C), and temperatures are expected to be the coldest on record for the caucuses.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former ambassador and South Carolina governor, cancelled all three campaign events planned for Friday, substituting them for phone-in events.
More than 700 flights travelling within, or in or out, of the US were cancelled on Sunday, FlightAware reported. More than half of flights into and out of Buffalo Niagara international airport were canceled, and the Denver Post reported 150 flight cancellations and around 250 delays at Denver international airport. Scores of flights were also cancelled or delayed at Chicago O’Hare international airport and Seattle-Tacoma international airport.
Another Arctic storm that’s dumped heavy snowfall in the Rockies was forecast to push further south, potentially bringing 4in to 6in (0.10 to 0.15 meters) of snow to portions of Arkansas, northern Mississippi and west Tennessee.
The Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, declared a state of emergency ahead of the severe weather to give utility trucks and trucks hauling essential supplies greater flexibility to respond.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain is also expected early this week across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and the southern Appalachians, said the weather service forecast. Frigid air will hit the deep south, bringing a rare 14F weather to Atlanta by Tuesday.
The extreme weather is a reminder of the February 2021 freeze that left millions in Texas and other US central states without power, water and heat for days, and a winter storm in December 2022 that almost caused the collapse of power and natural gas systems in parts of the eastern half of the country.
The Texas power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot), forecast electric demand on Tuesday would top last summer’s all-time high and warned power supplies could fall short on both Monday and Tuesday.
Ercot on Sunday issued an appeal to the public calling for energy conservation from 6am to 10am CT on Monday.
The operator asked Texas government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities during that time.
“Operating reserves are expected to be low Monday morning due to continued freezing temperatures, record-breaking demand, unseasonably low wind,” the grid operator said in a statement.
More than 150,000 homes and businesses in Oregon were without electricity on Sunday following heavy snow and ice storms, according to poweroutage.us. Widespread outages affecting tens of thousands were also reported in Michigan and Wisconsin.
The harsh weather in Oregon played a role in three deaths.
In Portland, medical examiners were investigating a hypothermia death as freezing rain and heavy snow fell in a city more accustomed to mild winter rains, and hundreds of people took shelter overnight at warming centers.
Portland Fire and Rescue also reported the death of a woman in her early 30s on Saturday afternoon. An RV caught fire when a small group of people used an open flame stove to keep warm inside and a tree fell on the vehicle, causing the fire to spread. Three other people escaped, including one with minor injuries, but the woman was trapped inside, the fire department said.
Authorities in Lake Oswego, Oregon, said a large tree fell on a home during high winds Saturday, killing an older man on the second floor.
The freezing weather is “tied to an expansive area of Arctic high pressure spilling out of the Canadian prairie”, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The high pressure, NWS said, “is responsible for dangerously cold temperatures extending from the Pacific north-west all the way into the Rust Belt”.
Weather-related deaths already were reported earlier in the week in California, Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin.
