Winter storm hits 250m Americans, Canadians

About 250 million Americans and Canadians have been hit with icy blast of a massive winter storm which has killed at least 19 people this weekend.

According to BBC, more than 1.5 million people lost power and thousands of flights have been cancelled since Thursday.

The vast storm which was forecast to affect the United States has extended to the neighbouring North American country, Canada of more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) from Texas to Quebec.

The reports, according to weather forecast said, a bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure falls, has brought blizzard conditions to the Great Lakes on the US-Canada border.

Near white-out conditions have been reported in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Buffalo, New York, where the US National Weather Service (NWS) reported “zero mile” visibility.

Canadian cities of Ontario and Quebec are bearing the brunt of the Arctic blast, with power cut to hundreds of thousands.

Much of the rest of the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, was under extreme cold and winter storm warnings.

Temperatures in Elk Park, in the US state of Montana, dropped to -50F (-45C), while the town of Hell, Michigan, has frozen over.

It was 1F (-17C) in the snow-covered community on Friday night. Emily, a bartender at Smitty’s Hell Saloon, told the BBC, “It’s pretty cold here, but we’re having a hell of a time.”

In South Dakota, snowed-in Native Americans burned clothes for warmth after running out of fuel, said tribal officials.

Heavy snowfall was forecast in areas of Pennsylvania and Michigan.

More than eight million people remained under blizzard warnings, said the NWS.

Coastal flooding has been sighted in New England, New York and New Jersey, inundating communities and downing power lines.

Denver, Colorado, dropped to -24F on Thursday, its lowest point since the 1990s.

A 34-year-old Craig McBrierty who is originally from Scotland, but now lives in Denver, told the BBC it is “colder than I have ever experienced.”

(Vanguard)