A unprecedented cold snap continued to paralyze parts of the United States on Saturday, causing power outages, fatal car accidents and flight cancellations, as polar temperatures broke records on Christmas Eve in several cities in Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Temperatures are forecast to be no higher than 7° Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius) in Pittsburgh, surpassing the previous Christmas Eve record of 13° F set in 1983, the National Weather Report (NWS) reported.
Several cities in Georgia and South Carolina – Athens and Charleston in particular – were expected to record the coldest temperatures for New Year’s Eve, while Washington, DC, was expected to experience its December 24 coldest since 1989.
ud83dude31ud83dude31ud83dude31 Holy moly!!! One crash after another. This is near Seattle’s Judkin’s Park. Pedestrian almost gets hit too! @nwpromo on youtube took this video & tells me no one was hurt.
But it is STILL very icy out there. Stay home if you can!!! #wawx #ice @KIRO7Seattle pic.twitter.com/bgTKTqGC7k
— Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) December 24, 2022
The meteorological phenomenon is so intense that it has deprived more than 1.7 million American homes with electricity this Saturday, December 24 in the morning, reports France Info.
This huge snowstorm is the source of several fatal car accidents in the country, CNN reporting at least 15 fatalities in weather-related crashes.
Nearly 2,000 flights were also canceled on Saturday morning due to this exceptional climatic phenomenon, fed since Wednesday by polar winds which cause heavy snowfall.