About 6,600 flights were canceled in the United States between Thursday (22) and Friday (23) due to winter storm Elliot. The blizzard, which according to weather forecasts can bring temperatures down to -30°C, has disrupted Americans’ Christmas travel plans.
According to the AFP, most of the cancellations on Thursday (22) occurred at two international airports – in Chicago, in the north of the territory, and in Denver, in the midwest. In addition, another 24,000 flights were delayed, according to the FlightAware tracker.
“This is not like a snowy day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff,” President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House. He also asked the population to follow the recommendations of local authorities.
Several states have declared a state of emergency, including New York, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina – the cold wave is yet to reach south Texas. There are reports of snow-covered roads across the country, and the press has covered several accidents.
The situation led authorities to block the stretch of the I-90 highway that passes through the state of South Dakota, where about a hundred drivers were stranded due to the wind – it should be reopened this Friday (23). In addition, there were records of waves of up to six meters in height in the Great Lakes region, on the border between the US and Canada, and power cuts in Buffalo, in the state of New York, where the temperature sensation was down to -10 °C.
The National Weather Service (NWS, its acronym in English) issued alerts on its social networks, noting that the area affected by the snow gusts should go from the central plains to the east coast and northeast of the country.
“People exposed to extreme cold are susceptible to freezing in a matter of minutes”, warned the entity. “The areas most prone to frostbite are unprotected skin and extremities such as hands and feet. Hypothermia is another threat during extreme cold.”
So intense, the cold has allowed Internet users to post videos doing the so-called “boiling water challenge”, in which boiling water is thrown into the air only to freeze immediately.
The storm hitting parts of the United States and Canada is what meteorologists call a “bomb cyclone”.
Storms start when cold (high-pressure) air masses meet warm (low-pressure) air masses, causing winds. What makes it a “cyclone bomb” is how quickly the pressure drops in the warm air mass — which rapidly increases the pressure difference between the two masses and makes the winds stronger. And when the wind blows, the Earth’s rotation creates a cyclone-like effect.
Eastern Canada braces for similar conditions, with heavy snowfall and rapidly declining temperatures. Toronto airport, the busiest in the country, already sensed the crisis by experiencing delays and cancellations.
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines had already taken steps to issue waivers and allow passengers to change their flights at no additional cost.
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