Americans warned new deep freeze and 'cyclone bomb' will cause frostbite in minutes as country faces -45C temperatures
23 December 2022, 10:02
Bitterly cold conditions that can give someone frostbite in mere minutes have hit the US.
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Parts of the country have dropped to as low as -38C and there are fears an incoming “bomb cyclone” could make the weather even worse by Christmas.
Thousands of flights have been scrapped due to treacherous conditions while homeless shelters have become packed as rough sleepers try to escape the biting cold on the streets.
Experts think this could be the iciest Christmas the country has seen for decade.
In Des Moines, Iowa, temperatures plummeted as low as -38C – a temperature that could give a person frostbite in under five minutes, while -45C has been forecast for some parts.
President Joe Biden warned “this is serious stuff” as he told Americans: "This is not like a snow day when you were a kid."
Frigid air has rolled from the central US to the east. Windchill advisories have been issued to about 135 million Americans.
Kathy Hochul, the New York state governor, warned the weather will "wreak a lot of havoc in our community" and said there was a threat of flood and ice jams – when ice builds up and blocks a river’s flow.
Alerts are even in place for places like Florida – which could see its coldest Christmas for three decades - and the US-Mexico border, with Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Oklahoma declaring emergencies too.
And now forecasters are bracing for a bomb cyclone, a scenario where atmospheric pressure drops rapidly in a strong storm, developing over the Great Lakes in the north east of the country. It could trigger blizzards.
Local authorities have warned about the possibility of power failures and told people to get ready to help vulnerable people like the elderly or the homeless.
Livestock could also end up at risk.
People have also been asked to avoid travelling if possible and turn down their thermostat – despite plunging temperatures – to conserve energy.
