so was the chaos by snowstorm

More than 200 million people were placed under a winter weather alert with temperatures forecast to be below 57ºC.

For iProfessional

04/01/2023 – 11.13 a.m

The great winter storm that hit the United States and Canada caused the coldest Christmas in four decades.

More of 200 million people were placed under winter weather alert in one of the busiest tourist days of the year. Temperatures dropped to -57 ºC.

Meteorologists warned that the temperature would cause frostbite in 5 to 10 minutes.

In Canada, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec were the most affected by the storm.

The Cyclonic Bomb

The cold snap started in the Pacific Northwest and then turned east, producing a “bomb cyclone.”

This arctic storm affected much of the United States and Canada. The alerts reached the south with the border with Mexico.

Named Elliot, the storm caused the coldest Christmas in the Midwest since the late 1980s. Even the state of Florida hit its coldest Christmas season in 30 years.

winds and snow

The storm brought strong winds and snowdrifts, the US National Weather Service (NWS) reported.

“Cold winds of this magnitude can cause frostbite in less than five minutes if precautions are not taken, and hypothermia and death are also possible from prolonged exposure to cold,” the agency warned.

The NWS called it a “once-in-a-generation” winter weather event, so the governors of Kentucky and North Carolina declared states of emergency.

canceled trips

The storm caused the Transportation Security Administration to cancel vacation travel at pre-pandemic levels. The American Automobile Association estimated that more than 112 million people traveled 50 miles or more from home between December 23 and January 2, the vast majority (102 million) by car.

More than 2,200 flights have already been cancelled, according to the Air Traffic Monitoring website FlightAware.

The US authorities have called for precautions to protect themselves in the coming days.

What is a cyclone pump?

It is the term assigned to a rapidly intensifying storm, with a drop in air pressure in the center of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.

They are known as cyclone bombs due to the explosive power caused by the rapid drop in pressure.

Such storms bring weather ranging from blizzards to strong thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.

Cyclonic bombs are most common on the east coast of the United States and Canada, where the cold ground and the warm current of the Gulf Stream provide optimal conditions for their emergence.