Temperatures remain frigid Monday across much of eastern USA after the passage of winter storm Elliot, which has left 48 dead and a record of the coldest Christmas in recent decades. New York alone had 27 deaths.
“Much of the eastern United States will remain frozen on Monday and a moderating trend will begin on Tuesday,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a statement.
Roads are partially to completely snow covered across a large portion of Iowa this morning. If traveling this morning, be prepared for longer travel times and slick roads. The precipitation will end by mid-morning. #iawx pic.twitter.com/SvVohRkNTB
— NWS Des Moines (@NWSDesMoines) December 26, 2022
The agency warned that in some areas it is still “dangerous” to travel by road due to snow, but predicted that conditions would improve within a couple of days.
The electrical system continues to be restored after the impact of snow and hurricane winds. Some 100,000 users remain in the dark, mainly in the states of Maine and New York, according to the tracking of the Power Outage portal cited by Efe.
During Elliot’s passage, a storm caused by an arctic air front, nearly 1.7 million users lost power, including homes and businesses.
The range of the storm has been almost unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande (Rio Grande) along the border with Mexico.
More than 200 million Americans, about 60% of the population, have faced some form of winter weather advisory or advisory, with temperatures dropping dramatically below normal from the Rocky Mountains east to the Appalachians. .
Nearly 40 people have died from the cold, trapped in their vehicles or in road accidents due to frost, according to local media.
The city of Buffalo, in the state of New York and on the border with Canada, has experienced the worst winter in memory, with at least 16 deaths. The bodies were found in houses, in vehicles and on the street.
The city has been completely covered in snow and its airport remains closed.
There have also been deaths from accidents or the cold in Kansas, Missouri, Vermont, Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to local media.
Elliot caused thousands of air delays and the cancellation of about 20% of flights on Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve, when thousands of people tried to reunite with their families.
United States: more than 20 dead in the coldest Christmas in decades
In several cities on the east coast and even in the state of Florida, the thermometers marked lows that had not been seen since Christmas 1983.
New York City experienced a minimum temperature of 10.5 °C below zero on Christmas Day, something not seen since 1872. Washington, the US capital, was at 10 °C below zero, the coldest Christmas since 1983, and Thermometers in Tampa, Florida, dropped below zero degrees, something that had not happened since 1966.
With information from Ap and Efe.