Blizzard, violent winds, heavy snowfall and perceived temperatures reaching -55°… Since Wednesday, Canada and the United States have been hit hard by a major winter weather phenomenon, which should last until the end of the week. -end of Christmas.
“Please take this storm extremely seriously,” even warned Joe Biden on Thursday.
The President of the United States urged his fellow citizens "to listen to the warnings at the local level".
Earlier, I gathered my team for a briefing on the extreme cold and storms we're seeing across America.
I urge everyone to follow the warnings of local officials – go to https://t.co/VsGFYDDJSt for more information.
I stand ready to help communities with whatever they'll need.
pic.twitter.com/eLEi2VoF8b
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 22, 2022
In its latest bulletin, National Weather Service, the United States Weather Service describes a “historic winter storm that will cause large-scale disruption” to the country.
It mentions “more than 200 million inhabitants, or approximately 60% of the American population” affected by the disturbances.
Several states have declared a state of emergency: that of New York, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia or North Carolina.
A depression from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico
At the origin of this phenomenon, there is therefore this “cyclonic bomb” or “low pressure bomb”, initially “due to what is called a dive of the polar vortex, indicates Cyrille Duchesne, meteorologist at La Chaine Météo.
Concretely, particularly cold air, coming from the polar zones, flowed south over the North American continent, propelled by a powerful
jet-stream
, a high-altitude air current”.
"It's a depression that has the particularity of deepening very quickly, associated with bad weather and an air mass conflict: cold air that descends from the polar zones, facing warm air that rises from the Gulf of Mexico to the eastern United States," adds the specialist.
And to continue: “We speak of a depression bomb if the depression loses more than 20 hectopascals in 24 hours and this is the case for this episode”.
What is also spectacular in this case is the extent of the phenomenon: from Canada to the southern United States and the Gulf of Mexico.
“We approached the low temperature records in Texas, with -12° in Dallas or -8° in Houston for example”, explains Cyrille Duchesne.
This Friday, the disturbances concern mainly “the center of the United States and the Great Lakes region, before going up towards Quebec and Newfoundland.
Finally, the northeastern United States and in particular New York State will be affected,” adds the expert.
The "Big Apple" should once again find itself under a nice layer of snow for Christmas, even if the depression should gradually lose intensity by the end of the weekend.
The New York branch of the weather service announces gusts of wind of 70 to 90 km / h this Friday in the region.
Dangerous cold temperatures & winds will continue to affect and spread eastward through the day from the Rockies, the south, Midwest, Great Lakes & advancing across the eastern seaboard.
This graphic is the forecast apparent temperature at 1 PM EST today.
https://t.co/VyWINDk3xP pic.twitter.com/trOqw6c6Lt
— National Weather Service (@NWS) December 23, 2022
By then, extremely low temperatures should be recorded.
The latest forecasts from the National Weather Service predict for this Friday at 1 p.m.: -33° Celsius in Chicago (Illinois), -22° in Detroit (Michigan) or -29° in Saint-Louis (Missouri).
Thousands of flights canceled in the United States
Direct consequences of this exceptional meteorological episode, air and road traffic are severely disrupted.
According to flight tracking site FlightAware, thousands of flights continue to be canceled this Friday.
There are 188 departing from Seattle airport, 160 departing from Detroit and 147 departing from Chicago.
Caution also on the roads, where according to the American Automobile Association, 102 million Americans should still take their car to reach the places of their festivities.
On social networks, the images published in recent hours show major traffic difficulties.
Life-threatening situation on I-25 between Wellington Colorado and Cheyenne Wyoming as a blinding whiteout grinds the interstate to a standstill in -30 to -40 windchills.
If you are stuck in this absolutely do not turn your car off!
Stay warm!
@NWSCheyenne @NWSBoulder #cowx #wywx pic.twitter.com/SW98Vha8nB
— Michael Charnick (@charnick_wx) December 22, 2022
Last January, a similar but less intense episode had already plunged more than 95,000 homes into darkness.
Due to heavy snowfall - 60 cm in Boston for example - and strong winds, the electricity had been cut off.
Similar incidents could occur in the coming hours.
