A winter bomb cyclone that is expected to hit most of the United States during the Christmas weekend has already started wreaking havoc in Northern and Midwestern states as of Thursday morning.
More than 215 million people are under a weather watch in anticipation of the storm, which has already caused a 40-degree drop in Wyoming in just 30 minutes, and a nearly 50-degree drop in Denver during a 24-hour period, according to Axios. The governors of Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Wyoming have all declared states of emergency in response to the blasts.
WINTER STORM: BOMB CYCLONE COULD HIT IN JUST DAYS AND CAUSE CHRISTMAS CHAOS
The storm is expected to cause “widespread disruptive and potentially crippling impacts across the central and eastern United States,” the NWS warned Thursday morning. “At the forefront of the impressive weather pattern is a dangerous and record-breaking cold air mass in the wake of a strong arctic cold front diving southward across the southern Plains today and eastward into the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys by tonight.”
Authorities in South Dakota began rescuing more than 100 drivers that were stranded on a road between Rapid City and Wall late Wednesday. All drivers have been accounted for, with some put into a Super 8 in Wall for the night. Roads have also been closed in Colorado, and the State Patrol in Minnesota said it responded to 272 crashes from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time Wednesday. Several injuries have been reported, but there have been no fatalities so far.
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The cold front has canceled more than 1,200 flights on Thursday, with another 810 flights facing delays, as travelers attempt to spend Christmas with their loved ones. Many states are expected to lose power over the weekend, with Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Minnesota expected to see the coldest conditions, the weather service warned.
Although the cold weather is expected to be dangerous to those who are caught outside, it is not expected to shatter many records. Casper, Wyoming, however, beat its own record, with temperatures dropping as low as negative 47, according to Iowa State University.
