Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Some 200 million Americans have felt the icy grip of a massive freezing winter storm linked to at least twelve deaths ahead of the holiday weekend in the United States.
Over 1.5 million Americans lost power, and thousands of flights were cancelled on Friday. A vast storm extends more than 2,000 miles from Texas to Quebec. The bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure plummeted, brought blizzard conditions to the Great Lakes on the United States-Canada border, according to BBC.
Ontario, Canada, and Quebec were bearing the brunt of the Arctic blast, with power cut to hundreds of thousands.
Much of the rest of the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, has been under extreme freeze-cold and winter storm warnings.
US National Weather Service
The National Weather Service of the US (NWS) said its Friday map depicts one of the greatest extents of freeze-weather warnings and advisories.
Temperatures in Montana, Elk Park, dropped to -50F, and the town of Hell, Michigan, has frozen over.
According to the BBC, Heavy snowfall was forecast in areas of Pennsylvania and Michigan. Buffalo, New York, expected at least 35in (89cm). More than eight million Americans remained under blizzard warnings.
More than 5,600 United States flights have cancelled on Friday, according to tracking site FlightAware, as flyers battled to make it home for Christmas. According to reports, by Friday night, one million customers have no electricity across the United States.
