Millions of Americans are digging out and helping their neighbors to do so as mammoth winter storms give rise to blizzards, freezing rain, and bone-chilling cold across states. The eastern US states are heavily affected as roads turn into ice-skating rinks, leaving millions of residents shivering with cold and fear and without power. From New York to Texas, the brutal weather has claimed 13-20 lives, cancelled several flights, and also led to emergency declarations in over a dozen states.
This brutal storm dumped over a foot of snow from Arkansas to New England, coating roads in ice and damaging power lines. Northeast cities like Boston saw fresh snow early this week, while the South struggles with ice buildup, adding 500 pounds per power line. Weather forecasters said that approximately 200 million Americans are under some or the other extreme cold alert, from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico. Many parts of Texas recorded temperatures as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) on Monday. While Boston, New York City, and Washington DC recorded single-digit temperatures.
As per PowerOutage.us, the most-affected is Nashville Electric Service, NES in Tennessee; almost 175,034 of 463,455 customers are battling this cold without power. “NES lineworkers will continue overnight, and we will not stop until power is back on for all customers,” Nashville Electric Service said in a post on X. Not just homes, local small, medium, and large businesses are heavily affected by this long-term power outage.
Air traffic was not spared either. On Sunday, 25 January, over 12,500 US flights were cancelled. According to Sean Duffy’s (U.S. Transportation Secretary) statement to CNBC, he thinks that airports will be “back to normal” by 28 January, Wednesday. Weather Prediction Center meteorologist, Adrienne Santorelli, warned, “Particularly in sections of the Southeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and into the Northeast, this could last at least until the first week of February.”
Deaths climbed to over 13 from hypothermia in Kansas, Louisiana, accidents (Massachusetts), and other snow-related causes in Tennessee, Michigan, and Texas. A person died of hypothermia in Austin, Texas, while trying to take shelter at an abandoned gas station. New York saw the death of 5 people due to cold exposure. Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged people to call for help in case they see anyone in need of help out on the streets.
Forecasters predict the entire Lower 48’s lowest temperature -9.8°F since 2014. Recovery efforts are ongoing across the country, slow but steady amid the raging snowfall. In this time of crisis, kindness is seen prevailing across cities and towns; Massachusetts residents formed a snow-shoveling crew, families in Texas are sharing generators, and state officials are urging people to stay in the safety of their homes, “Your loved one’s not going to be harmed.”
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