Christmas weather: Temperatures plunge as severe winter storm blasts across US, stifling travel and prompting emergency declarations

CNN
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A big winter storm blasting across much of the central and eastern United States leads to record temperature drops and harsh snow conditions that have led to flight cancellations, highway closures and multiple state of the art declarations ’emergency.

The storm is affecting nearly every state, with more than 100 million people across the United States currently under winter weather warnings and wind chills, what the National Weather Service calls a “once-in-a-generation type event.”

As an arctic front moves east, record temperature drops are observed.

Denver experienced a temperature drop of 24 degrees in just seven minutes Wednesday afternoon. A one-hour temperature drop of 37 degrees at Denver International Airport is tentatively the largest on record at that location, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.

And Cheyenne, Wyoming saw a temperature drop of 30 degrees in just 10 minutes and a record temperature drop of 43 degrees in an hour.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, saying, “Communities across the state are about to see temperatures they haven’t seen in a decade or more.”

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and Kentucky Governor. Andy Beshear also declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and Maryland activated emergency response operations before the winter storm.

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More than 1,100 flights have been canceled across the United States, according to the flight tracking site FlightAwaresurly air travel amid the busy holiday season.

And the conditions on the road were no better in many areas. Thursday is expected to be the toughest day for travel as the storm hits the Midwest with heavy snowfall and high winds.

Near-zero visibility on the roads led to numerous freeway closures between Colorado and Wyoming on Wednesday and the Wyoming Highway Patrol said it responded to nearly 800 service calls over a 12-year period, asking motorists to stay off the roads for an hour.

In South Dakota, more than 100 vehicles were stranded on snowy roads in low visibility conditions Wednesday night, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said.

Even Florida will not be spared with Sunshine State residents seeing sudden temperature drops on Friday. Major cities in the South — including Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi — are expected to see snow on Thursday.

The storm should become abomb cycloneFrom Thursday evening to Friday, reaching the pressure equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane as it moves through the Great Lakes.

• This stormy pattern affects almost every state. There is currently a Winter, Wind Chill, Freeze, Coastal, or Wind Alert in 44 of the lower forty-eight states.

• The most prevalent weather hazard over the next few days will be dangerouscold. Wind chill alerts are in effect for more than 25 states continuously stretching from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Canada-US border. Wednesday night’s wind chill could drop to minus 70 degrees in parts of Wyoming, a low reading rarely seen in the United States.
• Denver warns of ‘life-threatening’ colds. The city went from a temperature of 42 degrees with a wind chill of 32 at 3:53 p.m. Wednesday to a temperature of -9 and a wind chill of -30 at 8:30 p.m. – a temperature drop of 60 degrees from the wind chill.
• An incredible 60 million Americans, or nearly 20% of the US population, will experience a below zero temperature with this arctic explosion. This includes cities like Denver, Kansas City, St Louis, Minneapolis and Chicago.
• Western Minnesota faces dangerous blizzard conditions and life-threatening wind chills Thursday and Friday.

• Snow will start in Chicago around noon Thursday through Friday morning. Several inches of snow, combined with wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph could lead to Chicago’s first blizzard warning in more than four years.
• The arctic front will push south into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep across the east coast by the end of Friday, bringing cold weather to the Deep South. Houston will spend nearly two days below freezing Thursday night through Saturday afternoon. The normal high for this time of year in Houston is 64 degrees. Atlanta’s predicted high on Saturday is 25, which would be the coldest on record for a Christmas Eve.