An Arctic blast will continue sweeping across the US and linger until at least midweek, prolonging a bitter cold that set record-low temperatures in parts of the country and threatens to further disrupt daily life.
The US National Weather Service said wind chills are expected to push temperatures to -30 degrees Celcius from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and into Iowa, where people are voting in the first presidential nomination contest.
Former US president Donald Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination in this year’s presidential election, told supporters: “You can’t sit home.
“If you’re sick as a dog, you say: ‘Darling, I gotta make it.’ Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”
Arctic storms left at least four dead and knocked out electricity to tens of thousands in the US north-west, brought snow to the South and walloped the north-east with blizzard conditions, forcing the postponement of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Buffalo Bills NFL play-off game hosted in bone-chilling Buffalo, New York.
The game was scheduled to be held on Monday after being cancelled on Sunday.
New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing near-whiteout conditions.
“Conditions right now in Orchard Park, where the game would have started moments ago,” she wrote on Sunday afternoon. “No visibility and dangerously high winds.”
The weather service expects heavy lake-effect snow to push into upstate New York from Lake Erie, adding to the 1-2ft of snow already blanketing the region. Snow fell at a rate of 2in per hour.
Sub-zero wind chills will grip much of the country, plunging to 50 degrees below zero in Montana and the Dakotas.
“It takes a matter of minutes for frostbite to set in,” the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said.
Other parts of the country could see temperatures drop 25 to 40 degrees below normal, from the Rockies to the Ohio Valley.
As temperatures in Texas plunged, the state’s power grid operator appealed to residents to voluntarily conserve electricity on Monday morning due to the cold weather causing “record-breaking demand” for energy.
A deadly freeze in 2021 left millions of Texas without power, but state officials this week expressed confidence about the grid’s reliability as the cold front approached.
Freezing rain is expected to pelt parts of the Southern Plains and Southern Appalachians.
Even places like Florida will not be spared from turbulent weather, with forecasts predicting showers and thunderstorms from Monday into Tuesday.
In Oregon, more than 120,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, most of them in the Portland metro area, a day after high winds and a mix of snow and ice brought down trees and power lines.
Some 100 trees toppled over the weekend in a community just south of Portland, including one that fell on a house and killed a man. Two other people died of suspected hypothermia and a fourth died in a fire that spread from an open-flame stove after a tree fell.
Widespread power outages affecting tens of thousands were also reported on Sunday in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In Nebraska, the Omaha Public Power District asked customers to conserve electricity to prevent outages.
Airports across the country were affected. More than half of flights into and out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport were cancelled. Scores of flights also were cancelled or delayed at Chicago, Denver and Seattle-Tacoma airports.
