O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Icy winter weather blanketed the United States Saturday as a wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low temperature records in the heart of the country, spreading hail and snow from coast to coast and dumping a chill on everything from the football playoffs For presidential campaigns.
As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend began, the weather forecast was a crazy array of color-coded warnings, from a blizzard warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern Plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico. .
It has been a terrible, terrible winter in general. “It came out of nowhere — two days,” Dan Abinana said as he surveyed the snow-covered city of Des Moines, Iowa. He moved to the state from Tanzania as a child years ago, but said, “You never get used to the snow.”
Severe weather in Oregon played a role in the deaths of three people.
In Portland, coroners were investigating a death due to hypothermia caused by freezing rain and heavy snow in a city more accustomed to mild winter rains, and hundreds of people took refuge in warming centers overnight.
Portland Fire and Rescue also reported the death of a woman in her early 30s on Saturday afternoon. The RV caught fire when a small group of people used an open flame stove to keep warm inside and a tree fell on the vehicle, causing the fire to spread. Three other people escaped, one with minor injuries, but the woman remained trapped inside, the fire department said.
A large tree fell on a home during high winds Saturday, killing an elderly man on the second floor, authorities said in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Weather-related deaths had already been reported earlier in the week in California, Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Nebraska Governor Jim Palin declared a state of emergency, citing “extremely dangerous conditions.” Up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow fell in some areas over the past week, and wind chills were well below zero.
“This event will not disappear tonight. It will not disappear tomorrow, it will take several days,” Beilin said in a press conference.
About 1,700 miles (2,735 kilometers) of highways were closed in Nebraska. Colonel John A. Bolduc, chief of the Nebraska State Patrol, said state police assisted more than 400 stranded motorists.
In Iowa, cars were stuck for five hours in falling snow on Interstate 80 after a semi-trailer became stuck in slippery conditions. State troopers have dealt with 86 crashes and 535 driver assistance calls since Friday, State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said.
Road crews “were working like crazy clearing snow,” but high winds were pushing snow back onto the roads, Dinkla said.
State governors from New York to Louisiana warned residents to prepare for worrying weather.
Temperatures in parts of Montana dropped to below 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) Saturday morning, and the National Weather Service said temperatures were expected to reach minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 46 degrees Celsius) in the Dakotas. In St. Louis, the National Weather Service warned of a rare and “life-threatening” cold snap.
“We've now had several storms in a row” across the country, said Zach Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. This usually happens at least twice a winter in the United States.
However, to Ebony Jones of Des Moines, it seemed unusual for “how much we all get in the space of one week.”
“It's pretty crazy,” Jones said as he shoveled snow.
Grant Rampton, 25, also of Des Moines, braved a wind chill of minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 29 degrees Celsius) to go skiing with friends at a golf course, fighting the cold by wearing layers of clothing and socks. Buffer and maintain constant movement.
“It's a great case,” said Rampton, who spent his life in Iowa. “There's not much to do, especially in winter, but you can enjoy your time, like here, and ski with your friends.”
The temperature in parts of Iowa could drop to minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius) on Monday, when the state caucuses kick off the presidential primary season. Forecasters said it will be Wednesday before the below-zero wind chills disappear.
Republicans Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump canceled campaign events due to the storm.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were without power Saturday afternoon, especially in Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin, according to poweroutage.us.
In Yankton, South Dakota, the temperature reached minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius) in the evening. Police there said the plows were “freezing and breaking,” so they would not work until conditions improved. The Minnehaha County Highway Department also pulled its plows “due to reduced visibility and extremely cold temperatures.”
Elsewhere, if the problem wasn't snow and wind, it was water: Record high tsunamis hit the Northeast, submerging some homes in Maine and New Hampshire.
Michael Simba, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said that the northeast of the country received rain ranging between 2.5 and 5 centimeters in the morning, and a storm caused an exacerbation of the highest tide already recorded during the month. In Portland, Maine, a gauge recorded a difference of 14.57 feet (4.4 m) between high and average low tide, surpassing the previous record of 14.17 feet (4.3 m) set in 1978.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned of a “dangerous storm” when she announced the postponement of the NFL playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers from Sunday to Monday. Residents of the county that includes Buffalo were asked to stay off the roads starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, with forecasts calling for 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) or more of snow and wind gusts of up to 65 mph ( 105 km per hour). ).
Kansas City, Missouri, was scheduled to host a frigid playoff game Saturday night between the Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. The temperature at kickoff was expected to be -2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius), and the wind made it feel like -24 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31 degrees Celsius).
However, hundreds of fans lined up hours before the game outside the parking lots at Arrowhead Stadium, some wearing ski goggles, heated socks and other winter gear they had purchased for the game.
Chiefs season ticket holder Keaton Schlatter and his friends had considered trying to sell their seats, as did many other fans.
“But we decided this was all part of the experience, and we didn't want to miss it,” said Schlatter, of West Des Moines, Iowa.
In Oregon, Robert Banks, who has been homeless for several years, stood outside his blue tent along a Portland street one afternoon, wearing a single glove as the sleet fell on him. He said he wanted to secure his belongings before heading to the shelter.
“I lived in Alaska for several years,” he said. “The wind and the wet cold is different from the dry cold of the tundra…Oh, it's bone-chilling.”
The snow was welcome in at least one place.
Philip Spitzley, of Lake Odessa, Michigan, woke up Friday to 95 mini snowmen in his front yard to celebrate his 95th birthday. Fifteen family members and a neighbor cooperated in the snow-packing task, which took about 90 minutes.
“I was completely surprised,” Spitzley said. “I sat here watching TV and didn't know they were there. Then I saw flashlights.”
The screen has turned into a scene as motorists slow down to take a look. With days of cold weather ahead, “they're going to be there for a while,” Spitzley said.
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Peltz reported from New York. Nathan Elgren and Mark Vancleave in Des Moines, Iowa; Dave Skritta in Kansas City, Missouri; Julie Walker in New York; Ed White in Detroit; Nick Perry in Meredith, New Hampshire; Jennifer Kane in Portland, Oregon; Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.
