Deadly winter storm will bring 'life-threatening' cold on Christmas Day, forecasters warn - NBC News

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The deadly wintertime storm that has killed astatine slightest 30 people and caused question chaos crossed the U.S. volition make a “potentially life-threatening hazard” for those connected the determination oregon moving extracurricular connected Christmas Day, forecasters warned Sunday.

“In immoderate areas, being outdoors could pb to frostbite successful minutes,” the National Weather Service said successful a bulletin.

“If you indispensable question oregon beryllium retired successful the elements, hole for utmost acold by dressing successful layers, covering arsenic overmuch exposed areas of tegument arsenic imaginable and battalion wintertime information kits successful your vehicles,” it said.

Stretching from the Great Lakes adjacent Canada to the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, the tempest swept crossed the U.S. successful caller days, leaving astatine slightest 30 radical dead, according to an NBC News tally.

Fatalities were recorded successful 11 states arsenic of Sunday afternoon: Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Four radical died Saturday successful a three-vehicle clang connected an interstate road successful Ohio and astatine slightest 3 radical died successful the Buffalo area, including 2 who suffered aesculapian emergencies successful their homes and could not beryllium saved due to the fact that exigency crews were incapable to scope them amid historical blizzard conditions.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday astir each occurrence motortruck successful the metropolis was stranded successful the snow, and she asked residents to “bundle up, enactment indoors and enactment harmless this weekend.”

The city’s planetary airdrome was besides unopen down.

Blinding blizzards, freezing rainfall and frigid acold besides knocked retired powerfulness successful places from Maine to Seattle, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without powerfulness and millions of radical connected borderline astir the anticipation of blackouts.

The commencement of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans’ crippled successful Nashville was delayed an hr by a planned powerfulness outage.

Power was being restored but by aboriginal Christmas morning, much than 250,000 homes remained without electricity, including astir 100,000 crossed Maine, according to the Poweroutage.us website.

National Grid, which services customers successful New York and Massachusetts, asked its customers connected Saturday successful Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island to trim earthy state usage until Sunday afternoon.

Thousands of flights were besides canceled arsenic radical tried to marque their mode location for Christmas. On Sunday, astatine slightest 1,200 flights were canceled crossed the country, stranding last-minute vacation travelers.

Increasing snowfall tin beryllium attributed successful portion to clime change, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, an biology advocacy group, arsenic “a warmer satellite is evaporating much h2o into the atmosphere.”

“That added moisture means much precipitation successful the signifier of dense snowfall oregon downpours,” it said connected its website.

“During warmer months, this tin cause record-breaking floods. But during the wintertime — erstwhile our portion of the satellite is tipped distant from the prima — temperatures drop, and alternatively of downpours we tin get monolithic wintertime storms,” it said.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said the conditions were “expected to dilatory amended arsenic the strategy weakens.” But for Sunday it said blustery winds would “continue to filter successful acold Canadian aerial to the eastbound two-thirds of the nation.”

It said that “heavy water effect snow, beardown winds, and reduced visibilities” would proceed downwind of the Great Lakes and “bitter conditions” would stay crossed overmuch of the country.

“Lake-effect snows with section blizzard conditions whitethorn linger into Christmas Day,” it said.

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