2019-02-06 08:00:00
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Cold wave in the USA: A layer of ice covers the Chicago River. © dpa / Teresa Crawford
Cold weather in the USA: After the mega temperature jump of up to 45 degrees, the next sharp drop in temperature is currently threatening. All info.
A cold snap has gripped the American Midwest. Extreme temperatures of almost minus 40 degrees Celsius have already claimed up to 15 lives. Many schools and universities remain closed. At least three states declared a disaster. After an extreme jump in temperature of up to 45 degrees Celsius into the plus range, the next cold wave is imminent.
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Update February 6, 3:08 p.m.: The extreme yo-yo weather in the northern US continues. In the past few days, Americans have been able to recover from the first extreme cold spell. In the Chicago area, the thermometer rose from a previous minus 31 degrees to a spring-like plus 20 degrees. But it should only be a short breather, because: qualified meteorologist Dominik Jung von wetter.net predicts the next cold spell for the north of the USA. Temperatures are expected to fall below minus 30 degrees once more in some cases by Friday.
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Mega temperature jump following extreme cold in the USA – doctors warn of damage
4:59 p.m.: In parts of Canada and the USA, the temperatures are on a roller coaster: first minus 30 degrees, a few days later spring-like mild temperatures. Is that actually unhealthy? “After very cold conditions, the body is weakened by the cold. If there is a very strong change in the weather, you should be careful and avoid stress,” says Andreas Matzarakis from the Center for Medical and Meteorological Research of the German Weather Service (DWD) in Freiburg.
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When choosing clothes, you shouldn’t immediately switch from a thick down jacket to a short T-shirt, but instead rely on the layering principle. Because when the change from cold to warm comes so quickly, the organism still lags behind in its adaptation to the new conditions. In healthy people, adjustment usually takes a few days, says Matzarakis.
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However, people with cardiovascular diseases and people with poor or weakened general condition have problems coping with such sudden temperature differences, similar to the intense heat of last summer. Especially when a cold, a lung disease or other problems with the respiratory tract occur, rest and caution are the order of the day.
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Update February 3, 10:15 am: After a deadly frost, people in the USA are now experiencing a rapid change in weather and almost spring-like temperatures. At the weekend, the thermometer is expected to rise to just under 20 degrees in the Chicago area, among other places. In Rockford Illinois, a temperature increase of 45 degrees Celsius is announced – from minus 35 degrees to 10 degrees above zero. According to US media, at least 20 people have died from the frost of the past few days.
The weather service announced that the “life-threatening” arctic air masses that have dominated parts of the USA in the past few days should withdraw from the north-east of the country on Friday (local time). After the brief surge of heat, the values are expected to drop below freezing once more in some parts of the country in the days that follow.
In Texas, the US police are now struggling with allegations of racism: Mounted police officers had led a black suspect through the streets on a rope.
Dramatic cold in the USA: Within five minutes, death threatens – 70 homeless people saved in Chicago
Update February 2, 7:02 a.m.: The east coast of the US is preparing for an extreme cold snap from the Arctic. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of dangerous winter weather in the metropolis of Boston in the east coast state of Massachusetts. A warning was also issued for the north of the state of Rhode Island. According to media reports, the number of registered deaths from the cold rose to 21.
For the states of the Midwest and the Great Lakes, on the other hand, the weather service predicted a rapid rise in temperatures in some cases. Just a few days ago, Minnesota measured -53 degrees, Wisconsin -51 degrees, Iowa -50 degrees and Illinois -48 degrees.
Cold in the US: state of emergency – homeless rescued in Chicago
11 p.m.: The United States is currently in a state of emergency: extreme cold is spreading across large parts of the country, and in the metropolis of Chicago, temperatures have even dropped to minus 31 degrees Celsius. Right there, an unknown person probably saved the lives of 70 homeless people, how CBS News reported.
The anonymous benefactor rented several hotel rooms to accommodate the people there. Without him they would have had to spend the night in a cluster of tents near a highway. In one of these camps, homeless people tried to keep themselves warm with gas stoves, it said. The devices had apparently been donated by the population – but due to the extreme cold, they exploded. It’s been noisy ever since CBS News there was no longer a heat source in the camp. In response, the Chicago Fire Department tweeted, “Due to the extreme weather, we understand people want to help the homeless. But we ask that no more gas cookers are donated under any circumstances. They can cause potential fires and explosions.
Cold in the US: Extreme temperature differences expected
4:18 p.m.: Weather capers in the USA: After arctic cold in the Midwest, people there can hope for the end of the ice age at the weekend – but only temporarily, next week it should be frosty once more. For the neighboring cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted temperatures of plus 7 degrees Celsius on Sunday – following minus 32 degrees on Thursday, that would be an increase of almost 40 degrees.
By the middle of next week, the temperature there should drop once more by 30 degrees to minus 23 degrees. The NWS spoke of a “weather whiplash”.
The weather service announced that the “life-threatening” arctic air masses that have dominated parts of the United States for the past few days should withdraw from the north-east of the country on Friday. Adversity is now threatening the west of the USA: Two severe storms were expected on the west coast by Monday. “Heavy rains, strong winds and lots of snow in the mountains will affect much of California this weekend,” the NWS warned. Areas that had been hit by devastating forest fires in the summer were now threatened with flooding.
After the extreme cold in the USA, temperatures are rising rapidly. © AFP / JOSEPH PREZIOSO
USA: Arctic cold ends – new frost threatens following thaw
3:56 p.m.: Public life remained largely paralyzed on Thursday, and there were still massive disruptions to train and air traffic as well as the power and water supply. However, the Amtrak rail company slowly started operating once more in Chicago following completely suspending its traffic in the city on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, residents of the “Windy City” reported so-called frost quakes with loud cracking noises. According to local broadcaster WGN, the noise comes from frozen moisture cracking the ground beneath your feet.
In Michigan and Minnesota, shortages in the supply of natural gas threatened due to heating systems running at full speed. The situation was made worse by a fire at a gas plant in Michigan. Local authorities urged consumers to turn down their heating controls.
Arctic cold in the USA: East coast soon affected too
12:17 p.m.: After the Midwest, the east coast of the USA must also prepare for an extreme cold snap from the Arctic. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of dangerous winter weather in the metropolis of Boston in the east coast state of Massachusetts on Friday. A warning was also issued for the north of the state of Rhode Island.
Temperatures in Midwestern states are expected to rise once more during Friday and might reach nearly 15 degrees on Saturday, according to the NWS. Initially, however, temperatures of -29 to -49 degrees are expected in some regions due to strong winds, the meteorologists warned on Thursday.
It’s still too early to give the all-clear, said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “We’re not done with it yet,” she said, adding the region would remain in life-threatening temperatures for another 24 hours. Whitmer’s state has a particularly high number of deaths from the cold.
Death threatens within five minutes – student freezes to death on campus
10:51 am: Sad: According to the New York Times, at least 21 people have died nationwide. Some people froze to death, others died in weather-related accidents.
6.34 a.m.: It is now said that there are already at least 15 deaths from the cold, as reported by the broadcaster CNN. At the University of Iowa, an 18-year-old student died following staying too long on campus in the cold. In New York, three homeless people froze to death in the snow.
Researchers: More frequent cold snaps due to weak polar vortex
6.23 a.m.: Climate researchers expect more frequent cold outbreaks in the coming years as a result of the weakness of the polar vortex. “From time to time, the Arctic air, which is normally fenced off at the pole, can break out there and migrate to the adjacent continents,” said Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf, head of the Earth System Analysis department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). the German Press Agency. This happens above all when the so-called polar vortex is weak, collapses, turns around or – as is the case now – breaks into two parts.
A cold wave currently has large parts of the USA under control, several people died. The researcher described such cold outbreaks as unusual, but according to a data analysis by the PIK, this has become many times more frequent in the past few decades. “Several studies suggest that this has to do with the dwindling sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean, particularly in the Barents-Kara Sea,” Rahmstorf said. “The shrinking sea ice cover is a consequence of global warming and our greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that the polar vortex is becoming unstable more frequently and for longer is therefore probably also a consequence of global warming.”
Extreme cold snap in the US. © dpa / Rich Hein
According to the scientist, Europe and Asia are even more severely and frequently affected by cold air outbursts from the Arctic. “Here you can see a series of particularly cold winters since the turn of the millennium – not here in Germany, but further east with Siberia in the centre,” said Rahmstorf. “It’s a phenomenon that’s likely to become more common with global warming.”
According to Rahmstorf, this does not necessarily mean that such extreme cold will become more frequent, because the whole thing is happening in connection with global warming: “The absolute cold records can no longer be broken so easily today, they need ever stronger anomalies in the atmospheric circulation, the warmer the climate gets.”
6.00 a.m.: US President Donald Trump, who doesn’t believe in climate protection measures, had doubted climate change once more because of the cold snap. “What the hell is going on with global warming? Please come back quickly, we need you,” he sneered on Twitter on Tuesday. The National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) noted that winter storms are “no evidence that global warming doesn’t exist.”
That was the news regarding the cold weather in the USA on Thursday
Update January 31, 2019, 7:48 p.m.: According to US media, at least ten people died as of Thursday as a result of arctic temperatures. Public life remained largely paralyzed in the country’s Midwest. There were also continued massive disruptions to train and air traffic as well as the power and water supply.
The US National Weather Service warned residents of the affected areas that the icy wind might cause frostbite on unprotected skin within five minutes. “There is cold and there is COLD,” the agency said. “An extreme and dangerous COLD.”
“The temperatures are life-threatening and we have to act accordingly,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In the country’s third largest city, the temperature on Wednesday fell to the second lowest value ever measured – minus 31 degrees. Because of the wind, the perceived temperature was at times even as low as minus 46 degrees.
Cold snap in the USA: A Chicago Fire Department boat in front of the docks between the ice-covered Chicago River and Lake Michigan in Chicago. © dpa / Patrick Gorski
Update January 31, 2019, 6:28 p.m.: The number of cold deaths in the United States has risen to at least ten. The news agency reports afp.
Update January 31, 2019 11:53 am: Nationwide, more than 2,700 flights were canceled, including more than 1,800 at Chicago’s two major airports. Mail was not delivered in six states, and regional trains stopped in Chicago. In Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees in the morning. “This is obviously a historic cold,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “The temperatures are life-threatening and we must act accordingly.”
Video: Minus 40 degrees in the USA – the weather is going crazy
Cold snap in the US: Why is it so cold?
Residents protected their faces with ski masks when leaving their homes. Authorities set up more than 270 warming rooms for Chicago’s 16,000 homeless people. The reason for the cold wave is arctic air, which has broken away from the so-called polar vortex that normally circles the North Pole. According to a scientific thesis, global warming might be responsible for this split.
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), this air flow is not at all unusual. Because the vortex regularly occurs at the pole when no sun penetrates through the arctic night in winter, which might warm the accumulated cold air. The resulting so-called high-altitude low can generate strong westerly winds in the northern hemisphere and is called the polar vortex.
But while the polar vortex normally remains stable with its center over the Arctic, it has now spread unusually far south. Arctic temperatures therefore also prevail in parts of Canada and the Midwest. Strong wind makes the perceived temperature appear even colder than it already is.
According to DWD spokesman Gerhard Lux, the special geographical conditions in North America also contribute to the advance of the Arctic air masses to the south: the Rocky Mountains running from north to south always form a kind of crash barrier. It’s different in Europe – here the Gulf Stream in the north-east Atlantic and the mild North Sea ensure less low temperatures. “Eventually, the transverse Alps stop the access of arctic polar air to the Mediterranean,” Lux said.
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Arctic cold weather in the USA: minus 40 degrees Celsius call for the first fatalities
Washington/USA – Icy temperatures with record-breaking minus values have large parts of the USA under control. Extreme temperatures of almost minus 40 degrees Celsius were measured on Thursday night, especially in the Midwest. The National Weather Service (NWS) and doctors and emergency responders warned of “life-threatening” conditions on Wednesday. At least three states declared a disaster.
By Wednesday, eight people had died as a result of the cold, according to the ABC broadcaster. In the small town of Ponsford in Minnesota, felt temperatures – i.e. in connection with the wind speed – are said to have been calculated at minus 55 degrees Celsius. The Americans have to prove a strong cycle by Sunday. Then the temperatures should climb by more than 30 degrees Celsius in many places and reach almost 20 degrees Celsius plus.
Chicago at the center of the cold weather: already eight dead
Chicago, located on Lake Michigan in the north of the USA, was at the center of the great cold. The authorities set up more than 60 warming rooms for the homeless. In addition, each police station took in people who wanted to protect themselves from the cold.
In the metropolis in the state of Illinois, temperatures of minus 33 degrees Celsius were expected on Thursday – that is colder than in parts of Antarctica and very close to the all-time low that was measured in 1994. CNN reported that temperatures in the region had already fallen below minus 17 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. US media found that some parts of the US are currently colder than Mars.
USA, Bismarck: Snow blowers clear snow at minus 33 degrees Celsius. © dpa / Tom Stromme
By Wednesday evening, more than 3,000 flights had fallen victim to the high temperatures. The airports sometimes did not keep up with the de-icing of the machines. The rail company Amtrak canceled all train services to and from Chicago on Wednesday. A similar freezing cold of minus 17 degrees and below would be experienced by 83 million Americans, or 25 percent of the population, by Monday.
Many schools and universities closed: cold weather has the USA under control
The NWS warned of frostbite on unprotected skin within minutes. Responsible for this “Arctic cold” is the so-called polar vortex – a band of cold westerly winds that normally circles over the North Pole. If the vortex is weakened, the air can escape to lower latitudes. The American Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
In the face of the brutal freeze, even the weather-tested couriers of the US Postal Service have had to capitulate in many places. The USPS said service would be suspended in Iowa, Minnesota, and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois. In many states, schools and some universities remain closed.
Disasters have been declared in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota because of the cold. “The cold weather heading our way between Tuesday evening and Thursday morning might bring us temperatures we have not experienced before. They pose a serious threat to the health of people across the state,” wrote Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Cold snap in the US: Citizens should avoid “deep breaths”.
In the state of Iowa, the responsible NWS branch recommended citizens to avoid “deep breathing” and to speak as little as possible: “This is the coldest air that many of us have ever experienced,” according to its weather report for Tuesday morning ( local time).
The perceived temperatures – in the USA one speaks of “wind chill” values - are often much lower. According to the NWS, values of up to minus 49 degrees Celsius were calculated in the US state of Maine on Tuesday morning. The “wind chill effect” describes the cooling of the skin when the wind speed increases.
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