Just ahead of the Christmas holiday, the U.S. finds itself in the grip of a major storm. Thousands of flights were canceled Thursday.
The U.S. National Weather Service said the “historic winter storm” is producing “widespread disruptions to large portions of the nation heading into the holiday weekend.” More than 200 million people, or about 60% of the U.S. population, are under some form of winter weather warnings or advisories.The Associated Press reports that in South Dakota, Rosebud Sioux tribal authorities say they are facing a “relentless wind that has created drifts over 10 feet in some places” as they attempt to clear roads and deliver propane and firewood to homes.
The weather service says its list of winter weather warnings and advisories is one of the largest ever.
U.S. President Joe Biden warned the country Thursday of the dangerous storm, saying, “This is really very serious weather alert here. ... And it's of real consequence.” Biden encouraged everyone to heed any local warnings.
The National Weather Service warned late Thursday about blizzard conditions for the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes as frigid temperatures and high winds advance through the central and eastern regions of the country.
“The powerful arctic front that brought huge temperature drops across the Plains over the past 24 hours will be sweeping eastward across the eastern third of the nation Thursday night into Friday,” the weather service said. Many locations saw temperature drops greater than 10 degrees Celsius as the arctic front passed through, including a drop of 22 degrees Celsius in Denver, Colorado.
