Sharjah 24 – AFP: A "once-in-a-generation" winter storm with temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit (Celsius) caused Christmas travel chaos in the United States on Thursday, with thousands of flights cancelled and major highways closed.
Heavy snow and howling winds upended holiday plans at one of the busiest times of the year, as a huge cold front swept down from the Arctic and took freezing hold of the middle of the country.
Tens of millions of people were under winter storm advisories or warnings, with meteorologists saying it was so cold in places that anyone venturing outside risked frostbite within minutes.
"This is not like a snow day when you were a kid," President Joe Biden told reporters. "This is serious stuff."
Blinding whiteouts and hazardous road conditions were already spreading, even as 100 million people were expected to take to the roads, according to the American Automobile Association.
The I-90, a major highway running across the north was shuttered in South Dakota, with officials saying it would not reopen until Friday.
Plane tracking website Flightaware.com showed more than 22,000 flights had been delayed on Thursday, with 5,500 cancelled outright, many at Chicago O'Hare or Denver, both international hubs.
Holiday travel volumes are expected to be close to pre-pandemic levels, with the busiest day on Thursday, three days before Christmas.
AccuWeather forecasters have said the storm could rapidly strengthen into what is known as a "bomb cyclone" through a process known as "bombogenesis," when the barometric pressure drops and a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass.
The National Weather Service warned snow squalls -- bursts of snow lasting an hour or two -- had already happened or were expected from the Central Plains to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
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