Arctic cold wave brings heavy snowfall to New York

Millions of Americans woke up this morning to the snow, sleet and polar temperaturesas an arctic cold wave sweeps across much of the US, ending a nearly two-year “snow drought” in New York City and putting “ice» large part of the western states.

Record-breaking temperatures are expected across the Rockies, Great Plains and Midwest today, with morning temperatures expected to drop below -34 degrees Celsius in the Mississippi Plain.

The lowest temperature in the country this morning was -38 degrees Celsius in the small town of Brigsdale, Colorado, population 134.

“It ‘s crazysaid Katie Sizemore, a barista at Blue Mug Coffee Bar in Greeley, Colorado, when told she was near the coldest place in America.

In Greeley, 30 miles (48 km) from Briggsdale, the temperature was about 13 degrees warmer than the neighboring city to the north, but locals are taking measures to deal with the cold by layering up and turning on the radiators.

“We haven’t been out for a long time” said Sizemore.

In New York City, which hadn’t seen more than two inches of snow in nearly two years, residents woke up to a wintry scene outside their windows. In Manhattan’s Central Park, snow had reached 3.5 centimeters by this morning, ending a 701-day “snow drought” with minimal snow.

“The streak is overthe US Weather Service’s New York office wrote in a Facebook post, prompting users to comment on what most described as a welcome surprise. Between 10 and 12.5 centimeters of snow fell in Washington, D.C. overnight, while between 5 and 7.5 centimeters of snow fell in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Heavy snowfall is expected across New England into New York state before a brief midweek break, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The Appalachian Mountains and western North Carolina were also covered in white, with southern states facing an unusual wave of severe weather, according to Bob Oravec of the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. .

In Nashville, Tennessee, “where not many heavy snowfalls are recorded“, the height of the snow reached 15 to 20 centimeters, Oravec said. Residents of Mobile, Alabama woke up to sleet and a rare temperature of -0.5 degrees Celsius.

In the US territory, at least 5 people have died from the bad weather since last weekend, including two from hypothermia in the last few days in Oregon, local media reports.

Although power problems this weekend have been largely restored, 50,000 customers remain without power in Oregon this morning.

Tens of thousands were left in the dark in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, according to data from PowerOutage.us.

More than 3,000 flights to and from or within the US were canceled or delayed, with George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and LaGuardia Airport in New York recording some of the biggest problems, according to FlightAware.com.