A person clears snow from the street in Washington, January 6, 2025 (AFP / Mandel NGAN)
At least five people have lost their lives due to a major winter storm which has swept across the central and eastern United States since Sunday, affecting millions of residents and notably whitening the capital Washington.
And this part of the country is now preparing to shiver: the weather services predict that temperatures will drop to -18°C in places, with strong gusts of wind.
The heavy snowfall, which moved from the central states to those on the East Coast (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia), led to flight cancellations, school closures and road accidents.
Map of the United States showing snowfall from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. GMT Monday January 6, according to data from the American National Weather Service (AFP / Jonathan WALTER)
More than 50 million people were affected, with about 230,000 still without power as of early Monday evening, while 2,300 flights were canceled and thousands more delayed, according to Poweroutage.us and FlightAware.
Five people died in accidents linked to the dire conditions in the central states of Missouri and Kansas, according to local authorities.
“The roads remain dangerous” particularly because of the ice, warned the governor of Kentucky (central-east) Andy Beshear, urging people not to leave their homes.
A blanket of white covered the streets of Washington, where sidewalks and parks became playgrounds for snowball fights by children and adults. Some even put on skis.
In places, up to 30 centimeters of snow was expected, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
– “Growing up in the snow” –
“I feel so happy. I grew up in the snow,” Nikki White assured AFPTV, skiing on her feet and planning to take advantage of it “because it doesn’t snow much anymore” in these times of global warming.
Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe due to human-caused climate change.
For Patricia Kristjanson, who says she “grew up in Winnipeg, Canada”, “snow days are the best thing about being a kid because there’s no school.”
Not far away, the two main airports of the federal capital have been forced to cancel more than 500 flights since 6:00 a.m. (11:00 a.m. GMT).
Bad weather in the capital did not prevent Congress from certifying Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election on Monday, four years to the day after the violent assault on the Capitol by his supporters after his defeat against Joe Biden in November 2020.
The Capitol in the snow, January 6, 2025 in Washington (AFP / Allison ROBBERT)
– Potential tornadoes –
While authorities warned all day Monday about the danger of traveling on snowy and icy roads, videos published by The Weather Channel showed vehicles skidding on icy roads and semi-trailers ending up in snow. roadside barriers in Kansas.
“Snow has turned to ice, leading to power outages and more dangerous road conditions. Transportation safety teams are working hard to clear roads to allow utility crews and emergency responders to move around,” said Andy Beshear, who declared a state of emergency in Kentucky.
Snowy roads in front of the Capitol, in Washington, January 6, 2025 (AFP / Allison ROBBERT)
The governors of Missouri, Virginia and Maryland followed suit.
States in the southeast of the country could also experience their share of climatic misfortune, according to the weather services, which predict storms accompanied by hail and potential tornadoes.
These powerful winds could cause property damage and “extended power outages,” the NWS warned.
Conditions that could complicate an already precarious situation in the southern Appalachians, a mountainous region very hard hit by a deadly hurricane in September.
