Arctic blast ends New York snow drought, brings record cold to West

Millions of Americans woke up on Tuesday to snow, freezing rain, and extreme cold as an Arctic blast swept through much of the United States, ending a nearly two-year "snow drought" in New York City and bringing a deep freeze to the Western region.

Record-breaking cold temperatures were anticipated across the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Midwest on Tuesday, with wind chills dropping below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) in the mid-Mississippi Valley in the morning.


The coldest spot in the country on Tuesday morning was Briggsdale, a small town in Colorado, with a temperature of -36 F (-38 C), where locals, including Katie Sizemore, a barista at the Blue Mug Coffee Bar in nearby Greeley, were preparing for the extreme cold by layering up and using heaters.

In New York City, breaking a "snow drought" of 701 days without significant snowfall, residents woke up to a winter wonderland, with Manhattan's Central Park covered by 1.4 inches of snow. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. received 4 to 5 inches, and Baltimore and Philadelphia saw 2 to 3 inches overnight.

Additional snowfall of 2 to 4 inches was expected across New England and parts of New York state, with a brief mid-week break from the frigid weather predicted by the National Weather Service (NWS).

Snow also covered the Appalachians and Western North Carolina, and Southern states experienced unusually cold temperatures, with Nashville, Tennessee receiving 6-8 inches of snow, and Mobile, Alabama waking up to freezing rain and a rare 31 F (-0.5 C).

The winter storm resulted in at least five reported deaths, including two from hypothermia in Oregon. Although major power outages over the weekend were mostly restored, over 50,000 customers remained without electricity in Oregon on Tuesday morning, and tens of thousands experienced outages in Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama.

Due to high demand amid the winter storm, the operator of the Texas power grid requested residents to conserve electricity on Tuesday morning. Additionally, more than 3,000 flights within or to and from the United States were canceled or delayed, with Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and New York's LaGuardia Airport experiencing significant disruptions, according to FlightAware.com.