Nearly 177 million Americans – or more than half the US population – will await Christmas weekend under wind chill alerts as a major arctic blast plunges temperatures to dangerous levels in much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.
And the snowiest part is yet to come as the perilous winter storm barrels east across the nation.
A developing “bomb cyclone” is set to unload heavy snow and blizzard conditions especially in the Midwest on Thursday and Friday.
The cold air and storm are affecting nearly every state in some way: More than 200 million people coast-to-coast were under winter-weather alerts for snow or icy conditions Thursday evening, the weather service said.
Wind chill alerts are impacting people from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Washington state to Florida, with below-zero wind chills recorded as far south as Texas on Thursday morning and expected in the Southeast by Friday.
Travelers arrive for their flights at the United Airlines Terminal 1 ahead of the Christmas Holiday, at O'Hare International Airport on December 22, 2022, in Chicago. - US forecasters warned of life-threatening weather as a "once-in-a-generation" winter storm on Thursday threatened to wreak havoc on holiday travel plans for millions of Americans. The Federal Aviation Administration warned that high winds and heavy snow could delay flights at major air travel hubs Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago and Denver. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images“Life-threatening wind chills over the Great Plains (will) overspread the eastern half of the nation by Friday,” the Weather Prediction Center said – and wind chills below minus 50 degrees already have been reported in the past two days in parts of Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Some low temperature records were set Thursday morning in the West and South, and in some cases they dropped this week with record-breaking speed: Denver International Airport saw a 37-degree plunge over one hour Wednesday, preliminarily the biggest one-hour drop recorded there, according to the National Weather Service.
Care bags sit at the ready for people seeking refuge from the intense cold front sweeping over the intermountain West fill the walkways in the Denver Coliseum Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, in Denver. The home of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo will be serving as a warming center until the severe weather abates. David Zalubowski/APSnow, meanwhile, has been hitting parts of the West and is expected in the next two days across much of the country’s eastern half.
A major snowstorm is shaping up for the Midwest and Great Lakes especially – with widespread light to moderate snowfall – but with powerful winds that may make for impossible travel conditions.
“Heavy snowfall rates” of 1 to 2 inches per hour, “along with wind gusts of over 50 mph will result in near-zero visibility and considerable blowing and drifting of snow,” the prediction center said.
The storm is expected to become a “bomb cyclone” – a rapidly strengthening storm that drops a certain amount of pressure within 24 hours – Thursday evening into Friday, reaching the pressure equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane as it moves into the Great Lakes. This could be “a once in a generation type of event,” a forecaster in the weather service’s Buffalo office wrote Tuesday, after noting that kind of strengthening doesn’t often happen in the lower Great Lakes.
A blizzard warning will be in place at 7 a.m. Friday in Buffalo and surrounding communities, where one to three feet of snow and 70 mph wind gusts are likely, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is not going to be a typical storm,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said Thursday. “In fact, this could be a life-threatening storm.”
About 2,400 flights have been canceled across the US Thursday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware, snarling air travel amid the busy holiday season. And airlines have canceled more than 2,200 US flights scheduled for Friday.
Thermometer on snow shows low temperatures - zero. Low temperatures in degrees Celsius and fahrenheit. Cold winter weather - zero celsius thirty two farenheit. MarianVejcik/iStockphoto/Getty ImagesIn South Dakota, a 340-mile stretch of Interstate 90 was closed in both directions Thursday morning, from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, because of blizzard-like conditions, officials said. Near-zero visibility also led to many highway closures between Colorado and Wyoming on Wednesday.
Even Florida won’t be spared, with residents of the Sunshine State expected to see sudden temperature drops Friday. Some cities in the South – including Nashville and Memphis – are expected to see snow Thursday.
Flooding, meanwhile, is possible in parts of the Northeast, including Washington and Philadelphia, as rain hits the area Thursday before temperatures plummet overnight and bring a “flash freeze.”
President Joe Biden received a briefing on the weather Thursday morning at the White House, from the National Weather Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency. He encouraged Americans to heed the warnings of local officials and to stay safe in the face of the extreme cold.
“This is really a very serious weather alert here,” Biden said, adding that the White House has reached out to 26 governors in the affected regions.
Snow blankets buildings in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday, December 28. Joed Viera/AFP/Getty Images 
National Guard troops check on Buffalo residents on December 28. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP 
A traveler searches for luggage December 28 at a Southwest Airlines baggage holding area in Denver International Airport. More than 90% of Wednesday's US flight cancellations were Southwest flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images 
People help push a car out of snow in Buffalo on Tuesday, December 27. John Normile/Getty Images 
Niagara Falls in New York is partially frozen on December 27. Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images 
Travelers at Baltimore/Washington International Airport deal with the impact of canceled flights on December 27. Michael McCoy/Reuters 
A gas station canopy lays on its side after high winds and heavy snow in Lackawanna, New York, on December 27. The historic winter storm dumped up to 4 feet of snow on the area. John Normile/Getty Images 
Hundreds of unclaimed suitcases sit near the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area in Tennessee's Nashville International Airport after the airline canceled thousands of flights on December 27. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images 
A street is blanketed by snow in downtown Buffalo on Monday, December 26. Gov. Kathy Hochul/Twitter/AP 
A person clears a snow-covered driveway in Buffalo on December 26. Faith Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images 
A man and a boy walk across the frozen Reflecting Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on December 26. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images 
Firefighters carry rescue equipment as they respond to a fire on a snow-covered street in Buffalo on Sunday, December 25. Jalen Wright/The New York Times/Redux 
Snow blankets a neighborhood in Cheektowaga, New York, on Christmas Day. Western New York is drowning in thick "lake effect" snow -- which forms when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Great Lakes -- just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm. John Waller via AP 
A man tries to dig out his car after he got stuck in a snowdrift about a block from home in Buffalo on Saturday, December 24. Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP 
Icicles created by a sprinkler hang from an orange tree in Clermont, Florida, on December 24. Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images 
A young holiday traveler passes the time at Detroit Wayne County Metro Airport on December 24. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images 
Pedestrians deal with the cold in Chicago on December 24. Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP 
Hoak's Restaurant in Hamburg, New York, is seen covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie on December 24. Kevin Hoak via Reuters 
Nissan Stadium employees clear the field in Nashville before the an NFL football game on December 24. Mark Zaleski/AP 
Amanda Kelly cleans off snow and ice from her car in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, December 23. Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network 
Cars drive in whiteout conditions in Orchard Park, New York, on December 23. Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News/AP 
Travelers sleep while lines of people pass through a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport. David Zalubowski/AP 
Snow-covered buildings are seen in Louisville, Kentucky. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images 
The waters of Lake Erie wash over the shoreline in Hamburg, New York, on December 23. John Normile/Getty Images 
Snow collects on a bison at the Longfield Farm in Goshen, Kentucky, on December 23. Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal/USA Today Network 
Volunteers welcome a homeless person to a shelter at Louisville's Broadbent Arena on December 23. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images 
Stones are removed from a road in Westport, Massachusetts, after a storm surge made landfall, flooding many coastal areas on December 23. Peter Pereira/The Standard-Times/AP 
The Louisville skyline is obscured by steam rising from the Ohio River on December 23. Matt Stone/The Louisville Courier/USA Today Network 
Antonio Smothers jump-starts his vehicle in Nashville on December 23. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images 
Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow in Mandan on Thursday, December 22. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP 
Migrants warm themselves by a fire next to the US-Mexico border fence on December 22 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images 
Robert Arnold puts chains onto the tires of his semitrailer while he waits for the eastbound lane of I-70 to reopen in Silverthorne, Colorado, on December 22. Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images 
A musician departs following a show on Broadway in Nashville on December 22. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images 
Brady Myers helps turn the Stewpot Community Services day shelter for the unhoused into an emergency overnight shelter in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 22. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network 
Vehicles travel along Interstate 44 on December 22, in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/AP 
A person walks through the snow on December 22 in downtown Minneapolis. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP 
A clean car passes a snow-covered car in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP 
Travelers walk in front of flight information screens at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP 
Ice collects on a window in Oklahoma City on December 22. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network 
Bus riders wait at a sheltered stop in Chicago on December 22. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP 
An accident involving a semi-tractor-trailer blocks the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in West Des Moines on December 22. Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register/AP 
Kids shovel snow off a sidewalk and driveway in Minneapolis on December 22. Abbie Parr/AP 
Travelers arrive for their flights at O'Hare International Airport on December 22 in Chicago. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images 
Mist rises above ice flows on the Yellowstone River on December 22 in Paradise Valley, Montana. William Campbell/Getty Images 
Students walk to school buses after early dismissal at a middle school in Wheeling, Illinois, on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP 
Miguel Salazar clears sidewalks in Denver on December 22. Hyoung Chang/Denver Post/Getty Images 
Travelers arrive at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on December 21. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP 
Salt is prepared to be loaded onto a truck at the Department of Public Works sanitation yard in Milwaukee on December 21. Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP 
Propane heaters sit next to pens at the City of Mission Animal Shelter in Mission, Texas, on December 21. Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP 
Crews de-ice a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 21. Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald/AP 
An Iowa Department of Transportation plow clears a road in Iowa City on December 21. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press Citizen/AP 
Snow covers homes in Seattle on December 20. Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/APIn pictures: Winter storm impacts the US
Prev NextWhat’s ahead for the bomb cyclone
• Snow was falling early Thursday afternoon from Oklahoma to Michigan.
Read more
• Snow and high winds are expected to make for terrible travel conditions from eastern Montana and the northern Plains into the Midwest and upstate New York.
• Blizzard warnings – meaning snow and wind of 35 mph will frequently reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours – were in effect Thursday morning in some of those areas, including just southwest of Minneapolis, just south and east of Chicago, and western and northern Michigan.
• Major cities including Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus and Detroit are under winter storm warnings.
More on the extreme cold
• Wind chill warnings, watches and advisories were in effect for more than 30 states from Washington to Florida on Thursday.
• The arctic front will push south into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep off the Eastern Seaboard by late Friday, bringing cold into the Deep South.
• Thursday’s daytime temperatures may stay below zero in the northern Plains and get barely above that in the central Plains.
• Areas further south – Texas and the Gulf Coast – will see temperatures in the single digits and teens Thursday evening, the Storm Prediction Center said.
• Officials in several southern states are warning residents to take precautions. Alabama warned Thursday and Friday would likely feature “the coldest December airmass to hit the state since 1989,” the state’s emergency management agency said. Friday’s lows in that state were expected to range from the single digits in the north to the low 20s by the Gulf of Mexico.
• Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards asked residents Thursday to check on friends and family members that might have a hard time with the frigid temperatures. Lows Friday and Saturday were expected to be in the teens and 20s there.
• Two locations in Wyoming set records early Thursday for the lowest temperatures ever recorded at a particular location, regardless of the date on the calendar. Those new records are minus 41 degrees in Casper, and minus 29 in Riverton.
• Other locations in the West and South set record lows Thursday for temperatures on any December 22. They included several places in Montana (including minus 34 degrees in Boseman and minus 20 in East Cut Bank); Greybull, Wyoming, (minus 26); East Rapid City, South Dakota, (minus 18); Ketchikan Airport, Arkansas, (3); and three places in Washington state, including minus 20 degrees in Pullman.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez, Nouran Salahieh, Allie Malloy, Aya Elamroussi, Michelle Watson, Mike Saenz, Rebekah Riess and Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.
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