North braces for ‘once in a generation’ wind chill as cold front blows in from Canada

Northern states are bracing for an arctic blast as a cold front from Canada blows across the upper Midwest and an ice storm heads north after ravaging the south.

The National Weather Service warned of freezing temperatures in the Northeast and New England from Friday morning through Saturday, where wind chills could drop to minus 50 degrees due to a cold front moving in from Canada.

‘Wind chills have the potential to be [a] once in a generation cold from Friday to early Saturday morning,’ the NWS warned.

Freezing weather is forecast after snow and frost killed 10 people in the south earlier this week, along with 460,000 people without power and thousands of flights cancelled, with 805 canceled on Thursday alone.

As of Friday, an additional 120 flights within, to or from the US have been cancelled, with 356 more delayed, according to FlightAware.com.

Freezing weather and falling snow created a mess in the south, claiming at least 10 lives. Pictured: Trucks stopped on an icy road in West Memphis, Arkansas

More than 800 flights were canceled due to severe weather on Thursday alone, with an additional 120 flights canceled as of midnight last Friday. Pictured: A flight landed at Dallas Love Field Airport

A cold front from Canada is expected to move across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest on Thursday, and is expected to hit the Northeast and parts of the Mid-Atlantic on Friday.

CBS News Weather producer David Parkinson forecast record lows in parts of Minnesota on Friday, warning about a third of all Americans that they will start the day with wind chills.

“About 100 million Americans will start their day below 20 degrees on Friday and 140 million will do so on Saturday,” he said.

The NWS forecast record drops for several cities in the Northeast. Worcester, Massachusetts, would reach minus 10 degrees; Boston was predicted to hit a negative 6; Providence, Rhode Island is expected to drop to negative 6 degrees, and New York City, if forecast to drop to 9 degrees.

Record low temperatures are forecast for many cities in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, and the predicted wind chill makes it look even colder

Officials are warning residents to stay off the streets as the same winds and snow that devastated Texas are expected to hit, causing blackout conditions. Pictured: Roads closed in Austin on Wednesday after the storm

Wind chill in the north is expected to drop to minus 50 degrees below zero

The weather service forecast snow showers across the Northeast, warning that accompanying strong winds could create whiteout conditions.

The NWS warned that freezing temperatures could be exacerbated in the north due to the “lake effect” of the Great Lakes, which amplifies snowfall.

Jay Broccolo, director of weather operations at an observatory in New Hampshire, warned that wind speeds could reach 100 mph in the Mount Washington state area.

“We take safety very seriously at the highest peaks,” Broccolo said. USA Today“and this weekend’s forecast looks pretty tough, even by our standards.”

The NWS said that while the Arctic blast is expected to be intense, it will be short-lived and the weather should start to improve late on Saturday.

A cactus is covered in ice after freezing rain hit central Texas with up to an inch of ice overnight. The weather in the south is expected to continue to rise

The National Weather Service forecast record freezing temperatures for Boston, parts of New York City, Providence and Worcester, Massachusetts.

After being hit with freezing weather earlier this week, the South has begun to feel relief, especially Texas, which saw the lion’s share of power outages and deaths.

More than 400,000 customers in Texas were still without power as of noon Thursday, according to PowerOutage, a utility reporting tracking website.

Frustration mounted in Austin, where more than 150,000 residents remained without power early Thursday, more than 24 hours after power and heat went out.

For many, it was the second time in three years that a freeze in February led to prolonged outages and uncertainty about when the lights would come back on.

Unlike the 2021 blackouts in Texas, when hundreds of people died after the state’s power grid was pushed on the verge of total failure Due to a lack of generation, the widespread outages in Austin this time were largely the result of frozen equipment and trees falling on power lines.

The city utility company warned that full power may not be restored until Friday.

After the storm’s roughest stretch, Texans found relief and played on snow and ice as the state works to recover from the damage.

The loss of energy and freezing inspired some more traditional winter weather shenanigans, as a girl went viral for pulling off some Olympic-level figure skating moves in the Texas winter, while a man took to his airboat to give a return in nature. climate

Pablo Vegas, who heads the Texas Electric Reliability Council, promised that the state’s electric grid and natural gas supply would be reliable and that the blackouts of February 2021 would not be repeated.

School systems in the Dallas and Austin area, plus many in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, closed Thursday as snow, sleet and freezing rain continued to advance.

Winter condition watches and warnings stretched from the west Texas border with Mexico through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana and as far west as Tennessee and north into Mississippi.