US winter storm claims 48 lives, blankets Midwest and north

By Cindi Cook

DETROIT, Michigan (AA) – In a return engagement over the holiday week, a massive winter storm hit much of the Midwest and northern US, claiming 48 lives in the process and blanketing the regions with record-setting snow and ice.

The Christmas 2022 season brought on a blizzard with nearly 60% of the US population facing a winter advisory of some sort as well as extreme temperatures and conditions, according to the Fox News and CNN reporting. Snow walloped much of the middle of the country but stretched all the way from the Appalachian Mountains to the southern border with Mexico.

Lake effect conditions in western New York were especially strong, blowing at hurricane force. A bomb cyclone reported over the Great Lakes—or a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure during a storm—kicked off the extremely hazardous squall that left many dead in cars and homes as they scrambled for cover amid the unprecedented weather.

Late Sunday night, New York Governor Kathy Hochul had called the storms’ wake “like a warzone” and urged resident to stay home over the next 24 hours, according to reporting by CBS News, and not to be lulled into a false sense of security by clearing skies.

Emergency responders in multiple cities from Maine to Seattle have been prevented from doing their work as a result of the harsh elements, high snow drifts, and buried vehicles, leaving stranded people to perish at home without proper medical treatment.

Power outages occurred in multiple states nationwide with whiteout conditions persisting into Monday, Dec. 26. According to the latest figures from poweroutage.us, just over 184,000 outages occurred in US residences and businesses in nine national regions.

Airports shuttered after being faced with the winter onslaught, with Buffalo, Denver, and Detroit just some of the major hubs to cancel flights. According to FlightAware, a website that tracks daily flight delays and cancellations, 4,937 flights were cancelled on Christmas Day and 16,869 flights delayed, with 4,190 flights were cancelled on Monday with 13,047 delays.

By mid-day Monday, however, the National Weather Service stated that “the major lake effect snow event downwind of the Great Lakes will gradually come to an end by Tuesday.”