Tens of millions of Americans were yesterday in the pathway of dangerous and damaging weather conditions as snowstorms moved across the northwest and midwest, while flooding threatened the east coast and potential tornadoes were on tap in the south.
Airlines on Friday delayed more than 7,600 flights across the US, including planes grounded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport due to winds and blinding snow.
In Iowa, Republican presidential candidates canceled events three days out from the state’s caucuses, the first of the state-by-state contests in which parties pick their nominees ahead of November’s general election.
Photo: AFP
Blizzards arrived in much of the upper midwest on Friday morning, while heavy snows and fierce winds of up to 96kph were expected to continue yesterday, the US National Weather Service said.
More than 133,000 homes and businesses lost power in Michigan, data from PowerOutage.US showed.
The lights went out for another 150,000-plus customers in Wisconsin, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“This storm system is definitely dangerous,” said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
The service cautioned against unnecessary travel, adding that visibility on some roads in Chicago was less than 800m.
Taylor warned of risks of frostbite and hypothermia in Iowa, where temperatures for most of the state were forecast to drop minus-18°C.
The forecast for tomorrow in Des Moines, the state capital, was a low of minus-28°C. Temperatures for tomorrow’s caucuses, which entail long meetings in churches and school gyms, are expected to be the coldest on record for that political event.
The snow and wind contributed to 2,230 flight cancelations and more than 7,600 delays of flights within, into or out of the US on Friday, FlightAware data showed, with Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports topping the list.
Thirteen million people who live near the Atlantic Ocean or large waterways in Virginia north into New England were under the threat of flooding from heavy rains and snows over the past few days.
To the south in Mississippi, about 3 million people were under the threat of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms as the US National Weather Service said that the winds of up to 97kph could damage roofs and take down trees and power lines.
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