A major winter storm moved from the south and midwest towards the northeast of the United States this Sunday (25), after reaching several states with freezing temperatures which paralyzed transport and emptied market shelves.
Considered by meteorologists as one of the worst winter episodes in recent decades In the United States, the storm caused intense snowfall and ice accumulation with potentially “catastrophic” consequences, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
A total of 20 states, plus the US capital Washington, have declared state of emergency.
“Snow/sleet impacts will persist through next week, with periods of freezing that will keep surfaces icy and dangerous for driving and walking,” the NWS said.
The monitoring site PowerOutage.us showed more than 900 thousand customers without electricity in the morning this Sunday, mainly in the south, where the storm began on Saturday.
Another 250,000 residential and commercial customers were without power in Tennessee, while Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, where this type of storm is rare, saw about 100,000 power outages each.
Tens of thousands of homes were also affected in Kentucky (central east) and Georgia (southeast).
Authorities from Texas to North Carolina and New York have asked residents to stay at home due to dangerous conditions.
“Avoid the roads unless absolutely necessary,” the Texas Division of Emergency Management posted on the X network.
It snowed across the central United States, including Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, where some areas were already seeing 8 inches of snowfall as of Saturday night, according to the NWS.
Canceled flights and empty markets
Washingtonians woke up to several inches of snow on sidewalks and streets, with sleet forecast throughout the day.
President Donald Trump said Saturday on his Truth Social platform: “We will continue to monitor and reach out to all states in the path of this storm. Stay safe and shelter in place!”
Os federal offices will remain closed as a precaution on Monday.
Airports in Washington, Philadelphia and New York had almost all of your flights canceled for the day. More than 15,000 flights to and from the United States were canceled over the weekend, and thousands of others were delayed, according to the FlightAware website.
The NWS warned that the ice could cause “extended power outages, tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions.”
Many supermarkets had empty shelves in anticipation of the weather forecast.
The storm, described as “exceptionally large and long-lasting” by the NWS, is caused by the arrival of an arctic air mass from Canada.
Trump, a skeptic about climate change, took advantage of the storm to comment on the subject: “Please: WHAT HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING?”, he wrote on his social network Truth Social.
Scientists note that disturbances in the polar vortex, which send these arctic air masses toward the rest of North America, have become more frequent in the last 20 years.
This may be due to the relatively rapid warming of the Arctic, which weakens the band of winds that normally isolates the atmosphere over this polar zone.
The freezing temperatures expected following the storm could last up to a week, with wind chills expected to drop below -45°C in some areas.
*AFP
