In almost two-thirds of the United States, citizens woke up this Thursday with temperatures below zero and on alert for a second winter storm this week that will bring heavy snowfall.
The National Weather Service (NWS) indicated that heavy freezing rain is expected in portions of the Cascades region in the west, with snow accumulation that could reach 60 centimeters.
The agency predicted that the center of the storm will move toward the Mississippi Valley today and that snowfall will spread from the north central Plains region to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast.
The extreme cold over the past week, with a wind chill of minus 57 degrees Celsius (-71 Fahrenheit), has caused some spills and other damage in North Dakota oil fields, The Bismarck Tribune reported.
In New York City the morning temperature was three degrees Celsius (27 F), with a wind chill of eight below zero (17 F), and in Montpelier, Vermont, the thermometer read eight below zero (17 F). and with the wind the wind chill was 13 Celsius below zero (8 F).
An arctic air mass brings cold conditions until Sunday, with wind chills sometimes reaching zero, the Weather Service wrote in a message on social media.
Here is the latest briefing on the light snowfall expected tomorrow. Thereafter, an arctic air mass brings cold conditions through Sunday, with wind chills approaching zero at times. See the full briefing here: https://t.co/ScP7vOWrUr#NYCwx #NYwx #CTwx #NJwx pic.twitter.com/rAHWHjeCBe
— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) January 18, 2024
In Washington DC, the federal government returned to normality this Thursday, after a suspension of activities on Monday due to a holiday and due to weather conditions on Tuesday and a partial reactivation on Wednesday.
The storm, which The Weather Channel has named “Indigo”, covered the streets of Portland (Oregon) with ice and interrupted the power supply on Wednesday evening to more than 70,000 users, according to the PowerOutage.us platform.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, the weather report this Thursday shows a temperature of 14 Celsius below zero (6F), with a wind chill of 11 C below zero (12F) and an 80% chance of snow.
In Detroit, Michigan, the day began with temperatures of four degrees Celsius below zero (25 Fahrenheit) and the NWS forecast a snow accumulation of up to 90 centimeters in the region.
NWS also issued a severe winter conditions advisory for southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia, with heavy snow expected from nightfall Thursday into Friday morning.
There is also a forecast of prolonged snowfall in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) region that may hinder the work of road cleaning trucks and morning traffic on Friday.
Low temperatures have caused tribulations for owners and users of electric cars, of which 1.2 million units were sold in the United States last year, an unprecedented number.
The Recurrent platform, which specializes in batteries, indicates that when the mercury is below zero, the distance traveled by 18 popular models of electric cars is reduced by 30%.
In total, the weather conditions affect about 65 million Americans and, from Oregon to Arkansas and from Wyoming to Maine, authorities have reported at least 30 storm-related deaths.
