Freezing rain, snowfall and blizzard across the country, freezing cold has enveloped the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast for several days.
Freezing rain, snowfall, blizzard, across the country, freezing cold has enveloped the country for several days, from the East Coast to the West Coast. Southern states, such as Texas, more used to record heat, are also affected.
Hundreds of cold records” will be exceeded
“More than 150 million Americans live in a place where cold weather advisories, freezing rain advisories or snowstorm vigilance plans have been put in place,” the National Weather Service ( NWS ) said.
“This impressive cold snap which hit the continental United States is linked to the combination of an arctic high pressure carrying freezing temperatures and a very active depression with waves of precipitation”, specified the institution. “Hundreds of cold records have been recorded and will be broken during this polar cold snap,” the NWS added.
-45 degrees recorded in Minnesota
In the center of the country, temperatures have already reached record highs during the weekend with -45 degrees celsius in some parts of Minnesota, one of the coldest states in the United States.
The snowfall left thousands of homes without power, especially in Texas, where the ice storm also caused a giant pile-up on a highway near Dallas on Thursday, killing at least six and injuring dozens.
At least seven states, Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas, have issued weather alerts. And President Joe Biden has approved a declaration of a state of emergency in Texas.