Winter Storms and ‘Dangerously Cold Temperatures’ Hammer Much of the U.S. Thousands of Flights Cancelled, Numerous Power Outages

A variable message road sign in New York State on Friday warning of local flooding.
Almost 100 million people in the United States remain under windchill advisories and winter storm warnings as bitterly cold weather, heavy snow, and freezing rain batter much of the United States.
Over 5,000 flights have been cancelled since the start of the week, according to FlightAware, which tracks such information and hazardous road conditions including road closures have been reported in almost all of the 50 states of the Union.
As of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, over 5,300 flights into, within, and out of the United States have been cancelled while an additional 16,000 have experienced delays.
In the Midwest, at least five people have died as a result of the ongoing “dangerously cold temperatures,” as described by the National Weather Service.
Two people died in the Portland, Oregon, area following high winds that knocked down trees, according to NBC affiliate KGW. One person was killed when a tree fell on a parked recreational vehicle and another when a tree fell onto his home and crashed into the second floor.
In Idaho, a skier died in an avalanche.  Two others were rescued.
The icy storms are already causing numerous power outages throughout the country.  A number of outages reported throughout Central Texas and Texans were being asked to not use their washing machines and other large appliances as winter weather tests the power grid.
Over 100,000 homes and businesses in the country area without power, according to Poweroutages.us, which tracks such information. The power outages are concentrated in Oregon, Louisiana, and Texas.
Sub-zero (Fahrenheit) air temperatures and even colder wind chill temperatures will continue through at least Tuesday before another Arctic blast hits much of the country later in the week, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said.
“This means one more day of frigid wind chills dipping below minus 30 across the Plains states, and minus 50 in Montana and the Dakotas,” the agency said.
“Unfortunately,” the weather service added, “another surge of frigid Arctic air is expected to plunge southward out of Canada later this week, which could lead to more of the same dangerous cold weather across the Midwest and Deep South by the end of the work week.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)