2021-05-10 07:00:00
A cold wave with record-breaking negative values has large parts of the USA firmly in its grip and has already claimed several lives. Extreme temperatures of up to minus 34 degrees Celsius were measured on Thursday night, especially in the so-called Midwest. The wind chill factor plays a role here.
Strong wind makes the perceived temperature appear even colder than it already is. In the USA, the perceived temperatures are referred to as wind chill values. The wind chill factor plays a big role “How warm do I dress?” – so it’s all regarding the temperatures.
It describes the cooling of the skin when the wind speed increases. The Arctic winter lobe reached into the north-east of the country. In metropolises like New York and Philadelphia, gusts of wind drove the snow through the air and repeatedly clouded the view.
At the weekend, however, the Americans will have to show a strong cycle: then the temperatures in many places should climb by more than 30 degrees Celsius and reach almost 20 degrees Celsius plus.
The American Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Chicago, located on Lake Michigan in the north of the USA, was at the center of the great cold.
At least 30 people in the state have been treated for hypothermia or frostbite in emergency rooms, according to the Illinois Department of Health. 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.
Temperatures of minus 27 degrees Celsius were measured early Thursday morning in the metropolis in the state of Illinois. It was even icier in the town of Rockford: in the morning it was sometimes minus 34 degrees Celsius, a new record for the town.
The rail company Amtrak canceled all train services to and from Chicago on Wednesday. In the city, local transport operators set fire to some tracks, as reported by broadcaster CNN. In the extreme cold, the metal contracts, causing parts of the track to separate. The heat of the fire was supposed to expand the metal once more so damage might be repaired.
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.
The US weather service warned of frostbite on unprotected skin within minutes. The so-called polar vortex is responsible for this “arctic cold”. 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.
But while the polar vortex normally remains stable with its center over the Arctic, it has now spread unusually far south. According to DWD spokesman Gerhard Lux, the special geographical conditions in North America also contribute to this: the Rocky Mountains running from north to south always form a kind of crash barrier.
dpa
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#warm #dress #skin #cools
