Dangerous sub-zero wind chills blanket much of the US

WASHINGTON – More than 100 million people in the United States were under a wind chill warning or advisory on Jan 14 as an Arctic blast enveloped huge parts of the country.

The south of the country was expected to get snow, and the north-east was bracing itself for blinding wind-driven squalls, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service reported wind chill readings on Jan 14 of minus 28 deg C in Arkansas, minus 22 deg C in Dallas and minus 51 deg C in Montana.

Rapid City, South Dakota, reached its previous record low of minus 5 deg C, forecasters said.

Low temperatures are expected to grip most of the country until the middle of the week.

“These wind chills will pose a risk of frostbite on exposed skin and hypothermia,” the weather service cautioned. “Have a cold survival kit if you must travel.”

The extreme weather has proved to be dangerous in other ways.

Strong winds knocked a tree onto a home in north-west Lake Oswego, Oregon, on the morning of Jan 13, killing a man inside, said Sergeant Tom Harper of the Lake Oswego Police Department.

More than 100 trees fell in the area over the weekend, he said.

Also in Oregon, Portland Fire and Rescue struggled to reach the scene of a recreational vehicle fire in the south-east part of the city because of road closures from fallen power lines and trees.

The emergency vehicles had to move slowly because of slick roads, said fire inspector Terry Foster.

An open-flame stove was being used to heat the recreational vehicle, and a tree fell on it, starting the fire. One woman in her early 30s was killed, while three other people in the vehicle managed to escape.

As at the evening of Jan 14, Oregon was experiencing widespread power outages, with nearly 130,000 people without power.

Pennsylvania had the second-highest number of outages, with more than 37,000 customers without power, according to the Poweroutage.us website.

In Nashville, Tennessee, conditions on the Interstate 40 were deteriorating as fast-falling snow accumulated on the road on the night of Jan 14. “Please stay home if you can,” the Tennessee Department of Transportation said on social media. “It’s only going to get worse.”

Temperatures on Jan 14 and Jan 15 will likely be up to 4.5 deg C below average from Montana to Texas.

A wind advisory posted on Jan 14 includes the Philadelphia metropolitan area and points east to the northern New Jersey coast. Winds gusting to 64kmh to 80kmh can lead to white-out conditions for 15 to 20 minutes.

The powerful winds could damage trees and lead to power failures, the weather service said.

Lake-effect snow is also a threat in the Great Lakes region, with the potential for white-outs in Michigan, Wisconsin, and the west and north of New York state.

Multiple winter storm warnings were in effect on the morning of Jan 14 around the region of Buffalo, New York, where up to 60cm of snow was predicted to fall throughout the weekend.

Around New York and north-eastern Pennsylvania, the weather service forecast snow and localised wind gusts of up to 80kmh. New York City could get 2.5cm to 10cm of snow on the night of Jan 15 going into Jan 16.

Arkansas and Tennessee could receive up to 15cm of snow.

Snow, sleet, rain and dangerous wind chills are expected to batter the West Coast, the Plains and parts of the north-east, and to extend into sections of the south.

Snow and freezing rain are expected from the West Coast to the Rocky Mountains. The heavy snow and ice have the potential to create “poor to impossible” travel conditions in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

Moving east from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and Iowa, wind chills will drop below minus 34 deg C, forecasters said, adding that dangerously cold weather “will persist and redevelop” over parts of the Midwest.

A large section of Canada was also under an extreme cold warning on Jan 14, including Alberta, where the conditions were putting a strain on the province’s power grid.

Temperatures in some regions could drop to as low as minus 45 deg C, officials said.

Parts of the southern US will experience cold weather as “wintry precipitation”, including snow, sleet and freezing rain, is forecast to develop across several states.

Ice is also expected for parts of central Texas through the lower Mississippi Valley.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued a weather watch, though it stated on social media that the state’s electrical “grid conditions are expected to be normal”. NYTIMES