WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Over 200 million people, or roughly 60 percent of the U.S. population, are under some form of winter weather warnings or advisories, across the United States, said the National Weather Service (NWS).
“A tremendously impactful winter storm will continue to affect large portions of the nation late this week, and going into the holiday weekend,” said the NWS Weather Prediction Centre.
The “powerful arctic” front has brought huge temperature drops across the Greater Plains of the U.S. and is forecast to produce areas of heavy snow, strong winds, and life-threatening winds.
Meteorologists say, the winter storm could intensify into a “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when atmospheric pressure at the centre of the cyclone drops rapidly. Severe weather conditions have upended travels in many parts of the United States ahead of Christmas, which falls tomorrow.
“We have a large portion of the country affected by these winter storms that includes some of the key hubs for many of our airlines,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg.
Airlines have cancelled more than 2,300 flights within, into, or out of the United States, as of early Thursday evening, according to the flight-tracking site, FlightAware.– NNN-XINHUA
