Dangerous Arctic storm sweeps across US and Canada
More than 135 million people from coast to coast are affected by weather alerts, as a powerful Arctic winter storm is set to bring temperatures as low as -70F (-57C) in some areas.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled, ahead of the busiest travel days of the year.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that frostbite will be a major danger.
The cold weather will bring significant danger, experts have warned.
The low temperatures could lead to frostbite on bare skin in just five to ten minutes, the National Weather Service said.
“This is not like a snow day, when you were a kid, this is serious stuff,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
The US government forecasting agency has described the extreme cold weather as a “once-in-a-generation” event, with among the most weather warnings ever issued.
The low temperatures are caused by an “immense winter storm” from the Arctic, the National Weather Service says.
This powerful front has caused temperatures to plummet by 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a short time, in many areas of the country.
And a low pressure system along the Arctic front in the Midwest/Great Lakes region will result in heavy snow.
Several places could see the lowest temperatures on record, as well as dangerous levels of wind chill, the NWS says.
The governors of New York state, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Oklahoma have declared states of emergency in anticipation of the storm.
Wisconsin has also declared an “energy emergency”.
Kathy Hochul, New York state governor, said flooding and ice jams – when large pieces of ice block the flow of a river and cause flooding – are going to “wreak a lot of havoc in our community”.
In some parts of South Dakota, they do not have enough equipment to cope with the extreme weather.
Rosebud Sioux Tribe emergency manager Robert Oliver said workers were trying to clear roads which had about 10 feet (3m) of snow in some sections.
In one instance, a rescue of people stranded in their homes had to be stopped, he said, as the hydraulic fluid in heavy equipment froze.
