WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday urged people to heed severe weather warnings as a major winter storm brings strong winds and dangerously cold temperatures to dozens of states.
“This is really a very serious weather alert here,” the president said at the Oval Office ahead of a briefing on the storm. “It goes from Oklahoma all the way to Wyoming, and Wyoming to Maine. And it’s of real consequence.”
He urged people to heed local weather warnings.
“This is not like a snow day, you know, when you were a kid,” he added. “This is serious stuff.”
President Biden on winter storm sweeping the country: "It's dangerous and threatening … I encourage everyone, everyone to please heed the local warnings." https://t.co/diGBWsGKV0 pic.twitter.com/hd5hbZOqQ9
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 22, 2022
Officials with the National Weather Service warned that much of the country was likely to feel the effects of an Arctic blast of dangerous and life-threatening cold in the coming days.
In the central and eastern parts of the country, forecasters said the storm would likely “produce widespread disruptive and potentially crippling impacts,” while the Great Plains grapples with “record-breaking cold and life-threatening wind chill.”
A strong cold front continues to rapidly move through the middle of the country this morning with remarkable temperature drops, strong winds creating dangerous wind chills, and bursts of snow. See our latest Key Messages for this system as it heads southeastward. pic.twitter.com/KPdQzolIPg
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) December 22, 2022
Officials with NWS’s Buffalo, New York, office called the storm a “once-in-a-generation” event. Across the central High Plains, officials said Thursday that temperatures have already plummeted by 50 degrees in just a few hours. Several areas were seeing subzero temperatures.
A separate storm system is anticipated to bring “significant freezing rain” to parts of western Oregon and Washington, according to NWS.
Officials shared tips for dealing with the cold and urged people to be prepared if they have to travel.
In the coming days, a major winter storm will bring snow, blowing/drifting snow, strong wind gusts of 40-50 MPH, extreme cold, and dangerous wind chills of -20 to-30F. Know how to dress for the bitter Arctic air, prepare for possible power outages, and bring pets indoors! pic.twitter.com/E0Sg4iU3s3
— NWS Northern Indiana (@NWSIWX) December 22, 2022
Travel on Friday may become very difficult to impossible as widespread blowing snow reduces visibilities to near zero at times (whiteout conditions possible). If you must travel, have an emergency supply kit ready like the one pictured below. Now is the time to prepare. #miwx pic.twitter.com/IumOa2FP5Q
— NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) December 21, 2022
Several airports canceled flights due to the inclement weather. As of Thursday afternoon, nearly 2,000 flights had been canceled across the country, while more than 4,500 others were delayed, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
©2022 Cox Media Group
