Washington.- Much of the United States is preparing for a “once in a generation” winter storm, as the national weather service, the National Weather Service (NWS), has described it, which mainly affects the Midwest of the country and which will moves towards the northeast.
The US president himself, Joe Bidenwarned Americans this Thursday to take the storm “extremely seriously” and to follow the recommendations of the authorities.
“This is really a very serious weather alert. And it goes from Oklahoma to Wyoming, and from Wyoming to Maine. And there are real consequences, so I encourage everyone, everyone to please follow local advisories,” he said in statements to reporters from the Oval Office.
Biden stressed that this is not like a normal snow day, but rather something “serious,” while revealing that his Government has tried to contact the 26 governors of the affected states.
According to local media, temperatures as low as -59°F (-50°C) have been reached in northern Idaho, while some of the country’s major cities will face extreme conditions on Friday with -34°F (-36 .6°C) in Chicago, Illinois, -32°F (-35°C) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and -21°F (-29°C) in Denver, Colorado.
In its latest update this Thursday, the NWS predicted a “large anomalous storm” throughout the weekend, with snow, strong winds and “dangerous” low temperatures.
The meteorological phenomenon will go from the north of the Great Basin, a hydrographic area that covers Nevada, part of Utah and California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, to the northern Midwest, the Great Lakes and the central and northern Appalachians.
The NWS indicated that there will be “a dangerous mass of unprecedented cold air” due to an Arctic front that will reach the Ohio and Tennessee valleys tonight.
Air traffic
According to the website Flightawarethere have been a total of 1,724 flight cancellations within, to or from the US this Thursday.
The airports most affected by the cancellations are O’Hare in Chicago, Chicago Midway and Denver.
Airlines have warned that snow, frigid winds and low temperatures could affect travel from Seattle, on the country’s west coast, to Boston, in the northeast, or North Carolina, in the south.
Such are the weather conditions that even a country like Canada, accustomed to snow and low winter temperatures, is facing an unusual extreme cold that is hitting the western provinces and is expected to spread to the east in the coming hours, with snow abundant and winds.
