A cold front moving from the Midwest to the Northeastern United States brings temperatures that, with the wind, will be perceived close to 45 degrees Celsius below zero (-50 Fahrenheit), the National Weather Service (NWS) warned Thursday.
"This is an epic storm, which happens once every generation."said the NWS office in Caribou, Maine. "The air mass that will descend on the area on Friday is the coldest currently in the northern hemisphere.".
"The wind chill in this region could be the coldest in decades", NWS added. "Temperatures are expected to be the coldest on Saturday, with just a few degrees above freezing as far south as Pennsylvania, and below freezing throughout New England.".
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont activated the system to deal with severe weather conditions and warned that "with the type of cold that comes to us, lesions can develop on exposed skin in less than 30 minutes".
In Massachusetts, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu urged all residents of the city to take precautions, stay warm and care for their neighbors during the emergency.
In the south of the country, where another winter storm has left at least six people deada system that moves near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico "will produce heavy rain and thunderstorms in coastal states"the NWS said.
The poweroutage.us site indicates that in Texas there are more than 407,000 homes and businesses without electricity, a situation shared by 54,200 subscribers in Arkansas, another 22,000 in Mississippi, 15,000 in Tennessee and 10,700 in Florida.
meteorologists expect freezing rain during the day from northern Texas and southern Oklahoma to Arkansas and Tennessee with no relief in low temperatures through tomorrow, Friday.
On Wednesday authorities in Texas reported the death of a woman who lost control of her truck on an icy road north of Eldorado.
One person was killed in a 10-vehicle collision in Austin, and another was killed when her vehicle rolled over in the Arlington area, and three men were killed when the vehicle they were traveling in crashed on an icy road near Brownfield.