A winter storm of rare intensity sweeps the country, breaking cold records

This type of storm does not occur “Once in a Generation”, the US National Weather Service in Buffalo said. Heavy snow and polar temperatures have hit the US since Thursday, December 22.

Many cool records have been broken due to this : -53°C in western Canada, -38°C in Minnesota. It’s also further south, where temperatures are generally milder at this time of year. In Texas, Dallas recorded -13 degrees Celsius and Houston (Texas) recorded -8 degrees Celsius. Combined with blizzards and snow, temperatures in the plains can sometimes reach -55°C.

We are dealing with a “Historic Cold Snap”, Cyrille Duchesne explains. A meteorologist on the Weather Channel describes a weather event “Low Pressure Bomb”. Its causes are very classic: it is caused by a powerful collision between two air masses, one very cold from the Arctic and the other tropical from the Gulf of Mexico.

However, this time the atmospheric pressure dropped very quickly within 24 hours. As a result : Denver has seen dizzying temperature drops at times, with the thermometer dropping 33 degrees in just 7 hours on Thursday, the coldest temperature since 1990 at -31 degrees.

Quebec will soon be affected

“This level of cold can cause frostbite in exposed skin within minutes, as well as hypothermia and death if exposure is prolonged.”, US National Weather Service warning. It does any movement “dangerous or sometimes impossible”.

By the end of this week, a low pressure system currently over the Great Plains and Great Lakes should move toward Quebec, posing a threat. “Too Touchy” Including high winds and heavy snowfall. Cyril Duchesne notes that, to a lesser extent, it will also move toward the northeastern United States.