At least 35 fatalities have been recorded in states across the United States affected by severe cold, as confirmed by local authorities. The National Weather Service issued alerts for extreme and hazardous cold conditions on Tuesday morning spanning from Texas to Pennsylvania, with some regions expecting wind chills as low as minus -29 degrees Celsius. Much of the country was projected to remain below freezing throughout Tuesday, with temperatures dropping further overnight. Thermometers in northern Florida were predicted to plunge to -3.9 degrees Celsius late on Tuesday into early Wednesday.
The harsh cold persisted following storms that brought heavy snow over a distance of more than 2,100 kilometers from Arkansas to New England, leaving parts of the South covered in perilous ice. When a massive winter storm hit the Northeast and selected areas in the South over the weekend, Lisa Patterson initially planned to stay at her family’s home in Nashville. However, after losing power, encountering fallen trees blocking their driveway, and realizing their wood stove couldn’t combat the freezing temperatures, Patterson, her husband, and their dog had to be rescued and relocated to a warming shelter.
The Patterson family was among numerous households in Tennessee and other Southern regions seeking refuge in warming shelters while utility crews endeavored to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes. An impending influx of arctic air is anticipated to bring freezing temperatures to already snow and ice-covered areas on Tuesday.
Three siblings aged six, eight, and nine tragically lost their lives on Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, as reported by Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook. Meanwhile, fatal incidents involving snowplows occurred in Massachusetts and Ohio, sledding accidents claimed the lives of teenagers in Arkansas and Texas, and a woman was found deceased under snow in Kansas. In New York City, authorities disclosed that eight individuals perished outdoors during the frigid weekend.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear cautioned the public about potentially life-threatening cold temperatures that could lead to frostbite or hypothermia within as little as 10 minutes of outdoor exposure. Weather forecasters also indicated the likelihood of another winter storm hitting certain East Coast areas over the upcoming weekend.
As of Tuesday morning, there were approximately 550,000 power outages nationwide, predominantly in the South, where freezing rain over the weekend caused extensive damage to tree limbs and power lines, resulting in severe outages in northern Mississippi and sections of Tennessee. Authorities cautioned that power restoration could take several days in some areas.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves reported significant damage to at least 14 homes and 20 public roads following the state’s worst ice storm since 1994. The University of Mississippi canceled all classes for the week due to hazardous ice conditions on its Oxford campus. New York City experienced its snowiest day in years, prompting the closure of the largest public school system as neighborhoods were blanketed with 20 to 38 centimeters of snow.
In Nashville, Nathan Hoffner sent his four-year-old son to stay with his mother after their rental house lost power on Sunday afternoon. Hoffner and his roommate braved the cold by layering up with clothing and blankets overnight, but the indoor temperature significantly plummeted by the next morning, visible by the condensation of their breath inside the house.
