Refile: UPDATE 3-Arctic blast, blizzards disrupt U.S. travel ahead of holidays

Koryx Copper

23/12/2022 16:07

(Adds dropped word 'from' in paragraph 4)
    By Rich McKay and Gabriella Borter
       Dec 23 (Reuters) - Arctic cold extended its grip over
much of the United States on Friday, combining with snow, ice
and howling winds from a major winter storm roaring out of the
Great Lakes to disrupt energy supplies and thwart travel for
millions of Americans ahead of the holiday weekend.
    The extreme winter weather was blamed for at least four
deaths on Friday. 
        A 50-vehicle traffic pileup on the Ohio Turnpike in the
midst of a blizzard near Toledo killed one motorist, injured
several others and shut down both lanes of the highway,
according to the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department.
    Stranded motorists had to be evacuated by bus to keep them
from freezing in their cars in sub-zero temperatures, the
department said. 
        Three weather-related fatalities were also confirmed in
the adjacent state of Kentucky - two from car accidents and one
a homeless person who died of exposure.
    "Please stay home and stay safe," Kentucky Governor Andy
Beshear, he said on Twitter, announcing the deaths.
        With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as
it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than
two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather
warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service
(NWS) said. 
    'I GUESS IT'S COLD OUT'
    The nation's coldest spot on Friday was the remote northern
Montana town of Havre, near the Canadian border, where the
mercury had risen from a low of 38 degrees below zero Fahrenheit
(minus 39 C) to a relatively balmy minus 20 just before noon,
the NWS reported.
        "It's been colder, but yeah, I guess it's cold out,"
Tyler Schaub, the manager of Rod's Drive Inn, acknowledged as he
was flipping burgers on the grill. "We're used to it, but even
then it's best not to stay outside too long."
        Numbing cold intensified by high winds extended through
the Deep South to the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing single-digit
wind chill factors to the border city of El Paso, Texas.
Exposure to such conditions can cause frostbite within minutes.
    Hard-freeze warnings were posted in southern Georgia and
across much of all four Gulf Coast states - Texas, Louisiana,
Alabama and Florida.
    Farther north, heavy snowfall was forecast in parts of
Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York, including upwards of 35
inches in Buffalo, Weather Service meteorologist Ashton Robinson
Cook said.
    The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one
of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and
advisories ever," the agency said.
    The extreme weather disrupted households and holiday plans
just days before Christmas.
    With the nation's energy systems strained by rising demand
for heat, as well as by storm-related damage to transmission
lines, an estimated 1.5 million U.S. homes and businesses were
left without power on Friday, according to tracking site
Poweroutage.us. 
    Heating and energy prices spiked as inclement weather forced
energy production cuts and the deep freeze drove demand higher.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N33D19R
        Severe winds, ice and snow also upended commercial air
traffic during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. 
    Nearly 5,000 U.S. flights were canceled Friday, according to
flight-tracking service FlightAware. About 500 flights into or
out of Seattle's major airport were axed as a separate storm
system brought ice and freezing rain to the Pacific Northwest.
        The American Automobile Association (AAA) had estimated
that 112.7 million people planned to travel 50 miles (80 km) or
more from home between Friday and Jan. 2. That number was likely
to drop due to treacherous weather complicating air and road
travel going into the weekend.
        Buffalo-area officials in New York instituted a driving
ban.
        "If there's any good news, it's that the storm has moved
quickly over some areas," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete
Buttigieg told MSNBC on Friday. Many airports, such as Denver,
are expected to bounce back quickly from a wave of delays and
cancellations. Other hubs like Chicago could recover later on
Friday, he said.
    'BUNDLE UP'
    Last-minute holiday gift purchases may also have slim
chances of reaching their destinations by Christmas. 
    FedEx  FDX.N , United Parcel Service  UPS.N , the U.S.
Postal Service and Amazon.com  AMZN.O  all alerted customers
that severe weather was disrupting key operations in Tennessee,
Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, the Dakotas and other areas
hard-hit by bitter cold and blizzards.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N33D2P8     
    Weather forecasters said the massive storm over the Midwest
had materialized into a "bomb cyclone" - a phenomenon caused by
a drastic, rapid drop in atmospheric pressure that forms a kind
of cold-weather hurricane. 
    The storm system was expected to produce blinding snow from
the northern Plains and Great Lakes region to the upper
Mississippi Valley and western New York state. 
    Along the Eastern seaboard, rain and wind-driven surges of
ocean surf pushed inland could cause up to 3 feet of coastal
flooding, with flash freezing and black ice possible, the
Weather Service said.
    Forecasters predict some relief over the next days from the
deep freeze. Across the northern Rockies and High Plains,
temperatures could rebound by 40 to 60 degrees over the weekend.
     For now, meteorologist Cook said: "Bundle up and stay
indoors if you can, and check on your neighbors."
 (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Gabriella Borter in New
York; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los
Angeles; Additional reporting by Tim Reid, Lisa Baertlein, Erwin
Seba, Susan Heavey, Laila Kearney and Scott DiSavino; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis, Aleksandra Michalska and Aurora Ellis)
 ((steve.gorman@thomsonreuters.com; 310-491-7256; Reuters
Messaging: steve.gorman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))