Spanning from border to border and impacting over 200 million people, the winter storm sent temperatures plunging below freezing and snarled travel as snow and ice created dangerous road conditions.
Published Dec 23, 2022 7:43 PM EST | Updated Dec 23, 2022 8:05 PM EST
A deadly winter storm unfolding across the nation plunged the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. into a deep freeze Friday, knocking out power to over 1.5 million customers and foiling holiday travel plans as snow and ice coat the roads. The storm also foiled air travel, grounding over 5,000 flights and delaying another 7,800, according to FlightAware.
Weather alerts related to the storm covered over 60% of the U.S. population Friday with more than 200 million people under some form of warning or advisory related to the storm, from wind advisories along the mid-Atlantic to hard freeze warnings across the South. With the cross-country storm in the eastern two-thirds of the nation and the ice storm in the Pacific Northwest, over 41 million people were under a winter storm warning, and blizzard warnings were in effect for 11 million in the Northern Plains and along the Great Lakes.
At least eight people died in vehicle accidents during the potent storm as of Friday, including three in Kentucky after a multi-vehicle crash, three in Kansas in separate accidents, one in Missouri after a driver skidded into a creek and one in Ohio after a massive pileup on the Ohio Turnpike that involved at least 50 vehicles. Travel bans were issued elsewhere in the country, including New York and New Jersey, as high wind, winter storm and blizzard warnings cautioned of dangerous driving conditions.
Motorists make their way east on an ice-covered Interstate 235, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Among the areas under blizzard warnings was Buffalo, New York, where bands of lake-effect snow dropped visibility to near zero.
“The core of the lake-effect snow band has now moved into downtown Buffalo,” Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer reported from the area as he braced against the wind. "Prolific lake-effect snow happening here,” he said, adding that it could be “one of the worst blizzards to ever hit the Buffalo area.”
The National Weather Service reported low visibility to whiteout conditions since Friday morning as the rain transitioned into snow.
But it's not just the wind and the snow that are making for miserable conditions in the city. AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures dropped to 33 degrees Fahrenheit below zero on Friday as the actual temperature lingered at just 7 degrees.
The governors of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, New York and Oklahoma all declared a state of emergency in response to the storm, which had since exploded in intensity and developed into a "bomb cyclone" as of Friday.
A bomb cyclone refers to a storm that has undergone bombogenesis, or a rapid strengthening as the barometric pressure falls at least 0.71 of an inch (24 millibars) in 24 hours. With this intensification, these storms typically pack a multi-faceted punch, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brian Thompson.
"Bomb cyclones are unique because the pressure falls so quickly as the storm intensifies," Thompson said. "The end result of these large pressure drops is a stronger storm that, in addition to the threat of heavy snow and rain, can produce strong, damaging winds and blizzard conditions. These more powerful storms are typically larger in size, which will produce significant impacts over a large area."
He added that these stronger storms usually also help draw down colder air from the north, as is playing out as temperatures across the nation plunge.
"While we have seen more than a few bomb cyclones in recent years, this is probably the strongest we've seen in a while," Thompson said.
The most astounding part of the storm wasn't the snowfall totals for most areas, but the extent of recorded wind gusts that ranged from 50-60 mph, or higher, which Thompson said isn't something that's seen very often.
The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center recorded 39 wind reports as of Friday evening, most of which were along the East Coast. The highest report was recorded in Erie, New York, where a gust of 79 mph was observed at the New York State Mesonet station on the Skyway.
The extent of the plunging temperatures was also of note.
"Temperatures dropped 30-40 degrees in some parts of the East today during the day, which is extremely unusual," Thompson said. "The speed of this drop is what has led to the widespread flash freeze."
The bone-chilling temperatures won't stick around for long, however, with AccuWeather meteorologists calling for a warmup in most of the country for the final days of 2022.
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