Page 5 - HOH

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 24 december 2022
Massive winter storm brings frigid temps, snow and ice to U.S.

By HEATHER HOLLING- ing down in the 10-foot
SWORTH and JILL BLEED drifts, officials were con-
Associated Press sidering using horses to
MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Tens deliver essentials to some
of millions of Americans en- homes. Tribal officials have
dured bone-chilling tem- reached out to the Federal
peratures, blizzard condi- Emergency Management
tions, power outages and Agency for help.
canceled holiday gather- "It's been one heck of a
ings Friday from a winter fight so far," said tribal Presi-
storm that forecasters said dent Frank Star Comes Out.
was nearly unprecedent- In Maine, gusts approach-
ed in its scope, exposing ing 70 mph (113 kph) were
about 60% of the U.S. popu- reported along the coast
lation to some sort of winter Friday morning. Atop New
weather advisory or warn- Hampshire's Mount Wash-
ing. ington, the tallest peak in
More than 200 million peo- the Northeast, the wind
ple were under an advisory topped 130 mph (210 kph).
or warning on Friday, the The governor closed state
National Weather Service offices, ferry service to
said. The weather service's Casco Bay islands was sus-
map "depicts one of the pended and flooding was
greatest extents of winter leading to some water res-
weather warnings and ad- cues.
visories ever," forecasters The cold was putting a
said. strain on utilities. The na-
Power outages have left tion's largest public utility
more than 1.4 million homes asked businesses and the
and businesses in the dark, public in a tweet to reduce
according to the web- usage as much as possible
site PowerOutage, which without sacrificing safety.
tracks utility reports. The Tennessee Valley Au-
And more than 4,100 flights Information signs are seen Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Thursday, Dec. thority, which provides
within, into or out of the 22, 2022. electricity to 10 million peo-
U.S. were canceled Friday, Associated Press ple in Tennessee and parts
according to the tracking Greg Carbin, chief of fore- but "you can't" turn anyone In far northern Indiana, of the surrounding states
site FlightAware, causing cast operations for the away, said Faith Fowler, the lake-effect snow rolling off of Alabama, Mississippi,
more mayhem as travelers Weather Prediction Center executive director of Cass Lake Michigan could boost Kentucky, Georgia, North
try to make it home for the at the National Weather Community Social Services, storm totals to well over a Carolina and Virginia, also
holidays. Some airports, in- Service, noting that while which runs both facilities. foot in some areas by Sun- warned that there may be
cluding Seattle-Tacoma In- the blizzard conditions and In Chicago, Andy Robledo day, said Mark Steinwedel, brief, intermittent power
ternational Airport, closed Arctic air may set some planned to spend the day a meteorologist with the outages.
runways. records, the storm isn't un- organizing efforts to check National Weather Service It was so bad in Vermont
The huge storm stretched precedented. on unhoused people in Syracuse, Indiana. that Amtrak canceled ser-
from border to border. In Even though fleets of snow through his nonprofit, Feed- "It's really going to add up," vice for the day, and non-
Canada, WestJet can- plows and salt trucks have ing People Through Plants. he said, predicting "pretty essential state offices were
celed all flights Friday at To- been deployed, driving Robledo and volunteers awful travel." closing early.
ronto Pearson International was hazardous and some- build tents modeled on ice- The weather service is fore- "I'm hearing from crews
Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. times deadly. A Kansas fishing tents, including a casting the coldest Christ- who are seeing grown trees
And in Mexico, migrants City, Missouri, driver died plywood subfloor. mas in more than two ripped out by the roots,"
waited near the U.S. border Thursday after skidding into "It's not a house, it's not an decades in Philadelphia, Mari McClure, president
in unusually cold tempera- a creek. And in the Chica- apartment, it's not a hotel where school officials shift- of Green Mountain Power,
tures as they awaited a U.S. go suburb of Des Plaines, a room. But it's a huge step ed classes online Friday. the state's largest utility,
Supreme Court decision on pickup truck driver was hos- up from what they had be- In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi said at a news conference.
whether and when to lift pitalized after sliding into a fore," Robledo said. Noem late Thursday acti- In eastern Iowa, sports
pandemic-era restrictions pond. In Portland, Oregon, offi- vated the state's National broadcaster Mark Woodley
that prevent many from State police in Michigan cials opened five emergen- Guard to haul firewood became a Twitter sensation
seeking asylum. said in tweets that nine cy shelters. Fallen trees and from the Black Hills Forest after he was called on to
Forecasters said a bomb tractor-trailers crashed power lines have closed Service to the Rosebud do live stand ups in the wind
cyclone — when atmo- on Interstate 94 in Berrien roads across the Portland Sioux Tribe as some mem- and snow because sport-
spheric pressure drops very County in the western part metro area. And nearly 50 bers were stranded in their ing events were called off.
quickly in a strong storm — of the state. miles (80 kilometers) of In- homes with dwindling fuel. By midday Friday, a com-
had developed near the Activists also were rushing terstate 84, a major high- Other tribes also were strug- pilation of his TV stand-ups
Great Lakes, stirring up bliz- to get the homeless out of way through the Columbia gling, including the Oglala had been viewed nearly 5
zard conditions, including the cold. Nearly 170 adults River Gorge, were closed Sioux Tribe in the western million times on Twitter.
heavy winds and snow. and children were keeping Friday morning. part of the state, which "I've got good news and
"The impacts are perhaps warm early Friday in Detroit All bus service was sus- was using snowmobiles to I've got bad news," he told
far greater than they might at a shelter and a warming pended in the greater Se- reach members who live an anchor. "The good news
be in the middle of winter center that are designed attle area Friday morning at the end of miles-long dirt is that I can still feel my face
during a typical weekend to hold 100 people. due to an ice storm that roads. right now. The bad news is, I
without a holiday," said "This is a lot of extra people" made travel treacherous. But with the vehicles break- kind of wish I couldn't."q