Arctic blast, blizzards disrupt US travel ahead of holidays
Arctic cold extended its grip over much of the United States on Friday, combining with snow, ice and howling winds from a deadly winter storm roaring out of the Midwest to disrupt energy supplies and thwart travel for millions of Americans ahead of the holiday weekend.
The extreme winter weather, which prompted city authorities across the country to open warming centres in libraries and police stations while scrambling to expand temporary shelter for the homeless, was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday.
A 50-vehicle pileup on the Ohio Turnpike in a blizzard near Toledo killed two motorists, injured numerous others and shut down both lanes of the highway, state police reported.
Stranded motorists were evacuated by bus to keep them from freezing in their cars in sub-zero temperatures, according to the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department.
Three weather-related fatalities were confirmed in neighbouring Kentucky – two from car accidents and one a homeless person who died of exposure.
“Please stay home and stay safe,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Twitter, announcing the deaths.
With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people – more than two-thirds of the US population – were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The map of existing or impending wintry hazards “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” the NWS said.
‘I guess it’s cold out’
The nation’s coldest spot on Friday was the remote northern Montana town of Havre near the Canadian border, where the mercury had risen from a low of 38 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 39 C) to minus 20 just before noon, the NWS reported.
“It’s been colder, but yeah, I guess it’s cold out,” Tyler Schaub, the manager of Rod’s Drive Inn, acknowledged as he was flipping burgers on the grill. “We’re used to it, but even then it’s best not to stay outside too long.”
Numbing cold intensified by high winds extended through the Deep South to the US-Mexico border, plunging wind chill factors to single digits Fahrenheit (minus 18 to minus 13 Celsius) in the border city of El Paso, Texas. Exposure to such conditions can cause frostbite within minutes.
Hard-freeze warnings were posted in southern Georgia and across much of all four Gulf Coast states – Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.