Winter storm and severe cold sweeps across US

A deadly winter storm continues to pummel parts of the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast with heavy snow and blizzard conditions.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Here’s what else to expect this Christmas Eve:

Less than 800,000 customers across the United States are still without power as winter weather and frigid temperatures continued.

As of 3:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, 755,210 customers are still in the dark, according to PowerOutage.US.

Here’s a breakdown by national regions:

Lia Belles’ 85-year-old grandmother and her father have been stuck on New York State Route 198 in Buffalo, New York, since Friday afternoon.

They are among the “couple hundred” that officials in Erie County say are likely still trapped in their vehicles during the winter storm.

The worst part is that they are less than a mile from home, Belles says.

Her father would walk home but her grandmother is unable to. “He would never leave her alone,” she added.

Belles said contact with them is limited due to phone battery, and all they have is whatever is left in the car. They are turning the heat on and off to save what is left of the gas in the car, she said.

As of 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, Belles said they were able to get assistance getting the car physically unstuck, but they still are stranded as there is no path for them to leave.

“It’s very nerve-racking and difficult,” she said, “They’re definitely exhausted, but we’re seeing a little hope right now.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) ended its rolling outages Saturday afternoon after power system conditions improved, according to a release from the electric utility company. 

Two all-time high records were set during this winter weather, according to TVA.

“We know that asking for power conservation is challenging, especially during the holidays, and we appreciate everyone’s assistance and patience,” Don Moul, TVA’s chief operating officer, said in the statement. “TVA and local power companies continue to do everything possible to minimize any disruptions while ensuring that the overall power grid remains reliable.” 

The winter storm is bringing strong winds and blistering blizzard conditions to Erie County, New York. County officials have confirmed three storm-related deaths so far.

Two people died in separate incidents Friday night when emergency medical personnel could not get to their homes in time for medical emergencies, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Saturday morning during a news conference. A county spokesperson confirmed a third storm-related fatality to CNN on Saturday afternoon.

Additionally, a “couple hundred” people are probably still trapped in their vehicles in Erie County, officials told CNN Saturday.

Here a look at some images from the county:

A “couple hundred” people are probably still trapped in their vehicles in Erie County as a dangerous New York blizzard lashes the state, officials told CNN Saturday. 

First responders have been making efforts to rescue Erie County residents who became stranded in their cars last night and this morning while strong winds and blistering blizzard conditions impact the county, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told CNN’s Sarah Sidner Saturday. 

“It’s probably somewhere in the vicinity of a couple hundred now, based on the numbers we’ve seen,” Poloncarz told CNN. “That’s down dramatically from 500 or more in the overnight hours.” 

Poloncarz said earlier Saturday that up to two-thirds of emergency response vehicles in the hardest hit areas of the county were stuck, and discouraged residents from calling 911 unless their lives were in danger. 

“It’s still a very dire situation,” Poloncarz said Saturday afternoon. 

The county is facing challenges keeping residents from driving on roads, despite there being a ban in place, Poloncarz told CNN.

“There is a driving ban that’s going on for the whole county, and there’s a reason why, it’s because conditions are still so dire that you can easily get stuck, and then you are taking resources off the road when you really need it,” he said Saturday. 

Erie County first responders have been able to get individuals into warming centers, Poloncarz said, and the Buffalo airport said on Twitter that transit police, Buffalo Airport Fire and Airfield teams have rescued stranded motorists and provided shelter for roughly 60 people.

At least two people have died in Erie County as a result of emergency personnel being unable to reach homes during medical emergencies, CNN previously reported.

If you’re ever stranded in your car because of a bad winter storm, being prepared can be the difference between survival and serious harm or death.

For nearly two days back in January 2022, motorists were stuck on Interstate 95 in snowy and icy conditions in eastern Virginia after a storm left more than a foot of snow in the area.

And now at the end of 2022, we’re looking at a “once-in-generation” bomb cyclone that could bring dangerous cold to much of the US.

Winter storms, bad weather and sloppy road conditions can be frightening and dangerous for travelers, and “are a factor in nearly half a million crashes and more than 2,000 road deaths every winter,” according to AAA.

Because of these risks, “it’s always important to be prepared versus get caught in a situation that turns dangerous or potentially deadly, especially in the winter season when temperatures can drop very, very cold in a short amount of time,” said CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray.

Read about what you should have in your car to be safe:

Related article What to pack in your car to stay safe during severe winter weather

PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator for at least 13 states, asked its customers to conserve electricity due to the weather, according to a company statement.

The organization says it serves about 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.   

“Conserving electricity as much as possible between the hours of 4 a.m. on December 24, 2022, and 10 a.m. on December 25, 2022, will help ensure adequate power supplies,” PJM said.

PJM advised consumers to set thermostats lower than usual and postpone using major electric appliances such as stoves and dishwashers. 

“CPJM continues to carefully monitor the power supply conditions. It will do everything possible to keep power flowing in the region. If necessary, PJM may take additional steps, such as reducing voltage. PJM is coordinating efforts among generators, power suppliers and local utilities,” according to the statement.   

In a video on Twitter, PJM Sr. Vice President of Operations Mike Bryson thanked customers for their ongoing conversation efforts. 

Bryson said the risk of rotating customer outages is “very real.”  

A major winter storm will have more than 100 million people in the US under winter weather alerts this Christmas weekend.

But for those who call city streets home, heading inside is not always an option.

Here are some ways you can help:

Read more about ways you can help here.

The extreme winter weather continues to impede holiday travel plans, as there are more than 2,100 flight cancellations nationwide on Saturday morning, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.

More than 4,700 flights have also been delayed so far on Saturday. 

These airports were most affected by delays and cancellations:

The Tennessee Titans’ home game against the Houston Texans in Nashville has been delayed by an hour due to extreme weather and power outages in the area, the National Football League (NFL) announced on Saturday.

“This decision was made in partnership with the NFL, Office of Emergency Management, Nashville Electric Service and the Mayor’s Office in an abundance of caution to ensure that the game would not negatively impact our community in any way,” the NFL said in a statement.

“We are exploring every possibility to minimize non-essential power around the stadium. Gates are currently open and fans are welcome to enter. At all times, the operation of the game remained secondary to the well-being of our community and we can’t thank the OEM and NES enough for their dedication to the safety of our neighbors,” it added.

On Saturday morning, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Mayor John Cooper called on the Titans to postpone their 1 p.m. ET game “in solidarity with our neighbors,” amid ongoing rolling blackouts by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

The game will now kick off at 2 p.m. ET at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. 

New York will ask the federal government for a declaration of emergency amidst a blistering winter storm that has killed at least two people in the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a news conference Saturday.

“I’ll be asking the federal government for a declaration of emergency that’ll allow us to seek reimbursements for the extraordinary expenses of all the overtime and the fact that we brought in mutual aid from other parts of the state,” Hochul told reporters Saturday during a news conference. “We’ve deployed individuals – the utility crews have come but also making sure that we have all the vehicles we need.”

The governor declared a state of emergency across the state on Thursday ahead of the holiday storm.

At least two people in New York have died as a result of the winter storm, Erie County officials announced Saturday morning.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she deployed the National Guard to Erie County last night to assist with medical emergencies amid dangerous winter conditions in Buffalo and the region.

“The conditions, the blinding snow, the zero visibility, absolute whiteouts, it may go down as one of the worst in history,” Hochul said in a news conference, as she noted that Buffalo is her hometown. “People are comparing this to the dreaded blizzard of ’77 where Buffalo first got its reputation for having an unprecedented amount of snow.”

At least two people died Friday night in Erie County, in separate incidents, when emergency medical personnel could not get to their homes in time for medical emergencies, county officials said.

“The loss of two lives in Buffalo — storm related — because people were not able to get to medical attention, is again a crisis situation that unfolds before your eyes and you realize that life-saving ambulances and emergency medical personnel cannot get to people during a blizzard situation,” Hochul.

Hochul said first responders have been attempting to rescue stranded motorists on highways, but that they too “are all getting stuck in the snow as well.”

“In fact, almost every fire truck in the city of Buffalo is stranded. It is stuck in snow and we are just getting through releasing about 14 or so ambulances that were stuck as well.” she said. “So you can imagine what’s going on here. People who need help are being trapped because they cannot get the emergency response because it’s unsafe to be out there.”

The Buffalo airport will remain closed until at least 11 a.m. local time on Monday, Hochul said. The airport first announced it had closed due to “hazardous weather conditions” Friday afternoon.

Hochul said search and rescue operations will continue nonetheless throughout the region.

The governor said about 73,000 homes across the state are still without power, including 33,000 in Erie County. “That seems to be the epicenter of this storm that doesn’t seem to be moving on,” Hochul said.  

The governor said the state will keep warming centers open and she encouraged people to stay home.

CNN’s Celina Tebor contributed reporting to this post.

Just over 1.4 million customers across the United States are still without power amid the winter weather and frigid temperatures. 

As of 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, 1,426,366 customers are in the dark, according to PowerOutage.US. 

Here is a breakdown by region:

Jefferson County, New York, declared a state of emergency and enacted a travel ban Saturday, the state police announced, as the region faces strong winds and blizzard conditions.

The county is experiencing “life threatening blizzard conditions,” the National Weather Service of Buffalo said Saturday, with winds gusting as high as 60 mph.

The city of Watertown saw 14 inches of snow over the past 24 hours, according to the weather service. Very heavy snowfall rates of three to four inches per hour are also possible on Saturday, which could lead to another two to four feet of snow accumulations in the “most persistent bands” across the county, they said.

Wind chills as low as 20 degrees below zero could cause frostbite in as little as 30 minutes, the weather service warned.

“Travel will be impossible,” the weather service wrote, adding that widespread blowing snow could reduce visibility to zero.

The extreme winter weather continues to impede holiday travel plans, as there are more than 1,800 flight cancellations nationwide on Saturday morning, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.  

More than 3,300 flights have also been delayed so far on Saturday. 

The following cities were most affected by delays and cancellations into and out of their airports:

Duke Energy is asking its customers in Ohio and Kentucky to voluntarily reduce usage of all non-essential electricity until 10 a.m. local time Christmas Day, as “power supplies are tight due to extremely cold temperatures and increased energy use.”

“This will help PJM [regional electric grid operator] member utilities to continue delivering reliable service during this period of significantly low temperatures across the region,” the power company stated in a news release.

Rolling blackouts across Memphis, Tennessee, are impacting more than 50,000 people at a time, Mayor Jim Strickland told CNN’s Sara Sidner on Saturday morning. 

Residents are being forced off of the power grid for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, likely two to three times per day, Strickland said. He added that the city is working to reach the most vulnerable individuals, such as those who require power for medical devices. 

“TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) has always prided itself on reliability. This is the first time TVA has required rolling blackouts,” Strickland said. “It’s going to take a deeper dive into the reasons this happened.” 

Strickland said temperatures are not expected to rise above 32 degrees Fahrenheit for at least the next two days. 

The state of emergency in place will help reimburse expenses and bring issues, such as caring for homeless individuals, to the forefront, according to Strickland. Several hundred homeless individuals are being cared for by city-run facilities as well as nonprofits and churches. 

In terms of roadways, Strickland said conditions on major thoroughfares have significantly improved, however people should still only travel if necessary.  

A severe winter storm continues to unleash treacherous conditions across the country this holiday weekend.

If you’re just now catching up, here are some of the storm’s latest developments:

Rising death toll: At least 15 people have died across multiple states, including New York, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri.

Power outages: More than 1.7 million customers across the US are still without power as of Saturday morning, according to Poweroutage.Us. Before daylight on Saturday, utility companies were making progress on restoring power, but numbers could grow throughout the day as strong winds are forecast for much of the Midwest and Northeast. In states like North Carolina and Tennessee, residents are told to expect temporary power outages as the weather puts a strain on electricity providers.

Bitterly cold temperatures: More than 100 million people in the US remain under wind chill alerts Saturday morning. Some alerts have begun to expire across portions of the central and eastern regions of the country.

Holiday impacts: The winter storm has upended holiday travel for three consecutive days now, as airlines have canceled more than 9,000 flights in total between Thursday, Friday and advance cancellations on Saturday nationwide. More than 1,600 flights have been canceled so far Saturday across the country. Couriers including Amazon, the US Postal Service, UPS and FedEx are warning customers of disruptions to their operations in the final delivery day before Christmas due to the storm.

Some wind chill alerts have begun to expire across portions of the central and eastern regions of the US, reducing the number of people under these alerts to more than 100 million people.

The alerts still include these cities:

A vast majority of these remaining alerts will expire by mid-day.

John Cooper, the metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County mayor, on Saturday morning issued a tweet calling on the Tennessee Titans NFL team to postpone their noon game “in solidarity with our neighbors,” amid ongoing rolling blackouts by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) 

Cooper said the TVA’s unilateral rolling blackouts will continue and asked all non-essential businesses to reduce power usage.

“TVA needs to invest in infrastructure to withstand extreme temps,” the mayor added.

CNN has reached out to the NFL and Tennessee Titans organizations for comment.

A total of 27.8 inches (more than two feet) of snowfall has been recorded at Buffalo airport in New York since the snow began Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, much of the southern and eastern shorelines of the Great Lakes remain under blizzard warnings through tomorrow morning due to strong winds and additional lake-effect snow across the region.

The heaviest snowfall is expected east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario through tomorrow where an additional one to two feet of snow is possible. Winds could also gust as high as 65 mph across these regions today. 

“Travel will be impossible in the lake-effect snow band,” the Buffalo weather service office wrote in their blizzard warning. “Areas of blowing snow will produce zero visibility. Very strong winds will cause extensive tree damage and power outages.”

Here are some additional snowfall totals over the last 24 hours, according to the weather service:

Duke Energy, the electric power company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday morning announced “emergency outages” as extremely cold temperature drive unusually high energy demand across the Carolinas.

“We have begun short, temporary power outages. These emergency outages are necessary to protect the energy grid against longer, more widespread outages. We appreciate your patience,” the energy provider said in a tweet.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper spoke with the Duke Energy CEO, according to a statement from his office. 

“This morning I spoke with Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good to offer assistance and to express urgency about the need to restore power quickly in this extreme cold while keeping customers accurately informed,” Cooper said in the statement. “I’m grateful for the workers braving the wind and cold to get the power back on.” 

Two people have died in Erie County, New York, in what may be the community’s worst winter storm since the famous 1977 Buffalo blizzard, county officials said Saturday. 

The town of Cheektowaga reported two deaths Friday night after emergency vehicle services were unable to get to their homes during medical emergencies, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Saturday morning during a news conference.

The individuals died in separate incidents and their nature of their deaths is not known, he said.

In the hardest hit areas of the county, up to two-thirds of emergency response vehicles are stuck, Poloncarz said — in one instance, it took emergency responders over an hour and 40 minutes to travel only two miles on Friday night. 

“Due to the severity of the storm, it is unlikely we can provide transport to non-life-threatening situations,” he said, discouraging residents from calling 911 or the snow hotline numbers unless their lives were in danger.

The county has also received reports of natural gas and carbon monoxide backing into homes after snow blocked furnace and dryer vents, according to Poloncarz.

“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed blizzard of 77 for its ferocity,” he said.

More than 1.7 million customers across the United States are still without power amid the winter weather and frigid temperatures.

At least 1,757,913 customers are in the dark as of 9:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, according to PowerOutage.US.

Here’s a breakdown in terms of national regions:

As freezing temperatures from a coast-to-coast winter storm arrive in El Paso, Texas, some migrants who haven’t turned themselves in to border agents or officials after crossing the US-Mexico border are having a difficult time finding shelter.

El Paso is in the midst of a declared state of emergency over thousands of migrants living in unsafe conditions, as a former President Donald Trump-era border policy keeping migrants out of the US remains in flux amid court proceedings.

The city has opened government-run shelters at its convention center, hotels and several unused schools, but is unable to accept migrants who don’t have documentation from Customs and Border Protection, said El Paso city spokesperson Laura Cruz Acosta.

The city must follow state and federal policies, which she said require migrants to have documentation in order to receive shelter at government-run facilities.

If undocumented migrants show up at government-run sites, they are connected with Customs and Border Protection to start the process of turning themselves in, or are connected with shelters run by nongovernmental organizations on the ground, she said.

As dangerously cold temperatures arrive this week, US border officials are warning migrants seeking to enter the country of the dire weather.

“Extremely cold, below freezing temperatures are expected along the Mexico and United States border during the next several days,” Hugo Carmona, acting associate chief of US Border Patrol Operations, said in a video statement. “Do not risk your life and that of your loved ones trying to cross the river or the desert. Help avoid human death and tragedy, stay home or remain in a safe shelter. This is a warning of extreme importance.”

Read more here and watch how migrants are coping with below freezing temperatures, in the video below:

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02:27 - Source: cnn

If you are in the path of the winter storm, here are some tips for staying safe indoors and outdoors as temperatures drop.

Tips to stay safe indoors When staying indoors during cold temperatures or the winter storm, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these tips:

“Never using generators, gas or charcoal grills, camp stoves, or similar devices inside your home, in basements, in garages, or near windows,” the CDC says. “The fumes are deadly.”

Using the stove for heat is not safe, the CDC warns; instead, use extra blankets, sleeping bags or coats. A well-maintained fireplace or a portable space heater may be a safe alternative.

Tips to stay safe outdoors When venturing outdoors, the CDC and National Weather Service have some recommendations:

More than 1.6 million homes and businesses nationwide were without power on the morning of Christmas Eve, thanks to an Arctic blast and winter storm that tore down power lines with destructive winds and heavy snow and dipped temperatures dangerously low – conditions killing at least 15 people.

As bone-chilling air continues to grip the US this holiday weekend, the unrelenting storm is pummeling the Midwest and parts of the East with heavy snow, blizzard conditions and even flooding along the Northeast coast. No letup is in sight until the end of Christmas Day.

At least 15 people have died since Wednesday across four states, a result of how dangerous and life-threatening conditions have been this week over a large swath of the country.

Here’s what else you can expect this Christmas Eve:

CNN’s Britley Ritz, Amanda Watts, Tina Burnside, Ray Sanchez, Eric Levenson, Taylor Ward and Nicki Brown contributed reporting to this post.

The extreme winter weather continues to impede holiday travel plans, as there are more than 1,600 flight cancellations nationwide on Saturday morning, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.

More than 1,800 flights have also been delayed so far on Saturday.

These airports have been the most affected:

At least 15 people have died across the United States as the extreme winter weather continues to impact millions of Americans.

Here’s a look at details on the deaths:

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Caroll Alvarado, Tina Burnside, Raja Razek and Rebekah Riess contributed reporting.

The number of power outages in the US rose dramatically in the last few hours.

More than 1.6 million utility customers were without power as of about 7:50 a.m. ET, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. That’s up from 840,000 customers at 4 a.m. ET.

The outages at 7:50 a.m. ET included:

Strong winds with gusts of 30-50 mph are forecast for much of the Midwest and Northeast Saturday, which could lead to additional outages.

The loss of power comes as many states are experiencing subzero temperatures, and hazardous road conditions make it difficult for crews to respond quickly.

Tennessee residents will see intermittent power interruptions Saturday because the frigid weather is putting a strain on the capacity of the state’s federally owned electricity provider, utilities in the state said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides power to more than 150 utilities throughout the state and parts of six surrounding states, told the utilities they must intermittently interrupt electricity service to customers, the utilities said.

The Nashville Electric Service told customers Saturday morning to expect “rotating, intermittent power outages” in about 10-minute increments every 90 minutes to two hours. CDE Lightband, a power company in Clarksville, Tennessee, said power would be interrupted in 15-minute intervals.

Customers should conserve as much energy as possible, CDE Lightband said. The rolling outages are expected to last until the power load is stabilized, the Nashville Electric Service said.

More than 175 million people in the US remain under wind chill alerts Saturday morning, which include both wind chill warnings and advisories.

The wind chill alerts extend from Montana down to Florida, including metro areas such as Minneapolis, St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston and Washington, DC.

The coldest wind chills Saturday morning remain across the Midwest, where temperatures are feeling like minus 20 to minus 30 degrees. Places as far south as Atlanta are experiencing negative wind chills early Saturday.

While wind chill alerts will remain for some areas Christmas morning, they are not expected to be as widespread as Saturday and have been this week. Temperatures are forecast to start rebounding for most areas Sunday through much of next week.

If you’re hoping your last-minute Christmas gift will arrive on time, you may be out of luck.

Amazon, the US Postal Service, UPS and FedEx are warning the winter storm hitting large swaths of the United States is disrupting operations in the final delivery days before Christmas.

The US Postal Service said dozens of post offices have been temporarily closed by the storm in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa. The agency asked customers to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, stairs and mailboxes to help letter carriers make deliveries.

FedEx told US customers packages expected to be delivered Friday or Saturday could be delayed. UPS said its delays may be somewhat more localized.

Amazon also closed some facilities due to the storm, saying employees at the facilities would be paid for the canceled shifts.

UPS also said air and ground activities are being affected in Louisville, Kentucky, and Rockford, Illinois.

“As a result, some delivery and pickup services in these areas will be affected,” UPS said.

Before daylight Saturday, utility companies were making progress restoring power to homes and businesses, after a strong winter storm knocked out electricity to more than a million customers nationwide Friday.

As of 4 a.m. ET, the number had dropped below 840,000 customers, according to PowerOutage.US.

Four states still have more than 50,000 outages:

Strong winds with gusts of 30-50 mph are forecast for much of the Midwest and Northeast Saturday, which could lead to additional outages.

The loss of power comes as many states are experiencing subzero temperatures, and hazardous road conditions make it difficult for crews to respond quickly.

It’s enough to give anyone already nervous about the chaos in the skies yet another reason to pop an antacid: the prospect of delayed, lost or damaged baggage.

The concern is valid. Especially when an epic winter storm sweeps across the land the week before Christmas. Handing over checked suitcases can almost feel like a leap of faith in circumstances like that.

Scott Keyes, the founder of flight deals and travel advice site Scott’s Cheap Flights, said he’s encouraging people not to let news of baggage issues put them off their flights and vacations.

“Every bag that gets lost is a huge disruption for the people whose bag that is – and I certainly don’t want to downplay that – but I do want folks to have the proper perspective that in the vast majority of cases, your flight is going to fly and your checked bag is going to arrive,” Keyes told CNN.

Read more about what you can do to help avoid or at least minimize the impact of lost and delayed luggage:

Related article What should I do if my luggage is delayed, lost or damaged?

Three people have died in weather-related traffic accidents in Kansas, according to police, bringing the number of storm-related deaths nationally to at least 11.

All three fatal crashes occurred in north-central Kansas on Wednesday night, according to Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson Lt. Candice Breshears.

Deaths from the storm have been recorded by officials in three other states:

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Caroll Alvarado, Raja Razek and Rebekah Riess contributed reporting.

As the winter storm gripping much of the nation roars across the state of New York, authorities are urging people to stay home and avoid dangerous traveling conditions.

As many as 250 people could be stranded in their cars in Erie County Friday night, according to Buffalo’s mayor.

“We tried to put messages out because this storm was forecast in advance,” Mayor Byron Brown told CNN’s Jim Sciutto, warning “people should get into Buffalo, should get with their family members by Thursday, knowing that the storm would begin to hit Friday morning at 7 a.m. and that it would not let up until Sunday, Monday.”

Police, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters are out trying to rescue people from their vehicles, Byron said, adding forecasts are calling for 36 to 48 inches of snow and wind gusts of 79 mph have been recorded.

The Erie County 911 call system has been overwhelmed with calls, County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Friday night.

“It cannot be overstated how serious this storm is. E-911 and Central Police Services are reporting unprecedented call volumes and conditions that make it near impossible for first responders to operate,” Poloncarz tweeted.
“Please reserve calls to 911 for the most critical life-safety issues.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has activated the National Guard to help in Erie County, the governor’s office announced in a statement Friday night. The deployed guardsmen are expected to be on the ground in the next few hours.

“I want to assure New Yorkers that all of our state resources are deployed to help with storm recovery efforts, and we are coordinating closely with local officials across the state,” Hochul said.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the state, service on the Long Beach branch of the Long Island Rail Road has been fully restored after Friday morning flooding, the railroad tweeted.

“Long Beach Branch service has been fully restored on both tracks following earlier infrastructure issues from flooding conditions. Customers can expect possible residual delays,” according to the tweet.

Airlines have canceled more than 1,500 flights in the US or Saturday, upending Christmas travel across the US for the third consecutive day, according to flight tracker FlightAware.

Airports most affected by delays and cancellations included those in Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Denver.

This comes after more than 5,900 US flights were canceled Friday. More than half of departures were canceled at Chicago Midway Friday, along with two-thirds of departing flights in Cleveland. Buffalo’s airport shut down completely Friday evening.

Snow and ice are an obvious factor in many cancellations, but severe winds and the wind chill are a problem, too, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN Friday.

“It’s really about that that frigid temperature that you’re seeing,” Buttigieg said. “That limits the ability of the ground crews to operate. They make it look easy. You see that they’ve got a lot of winter weather gear, but there’s still only so long that these workers can be on the ground servicing these aircraft before it’s a safety issue and they need to get back inside.”

Planes at multiple airports require de-icing before departing, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Among Thursday, Friday, and advance cancellations for Saturday, more than 9,000 pre-Christmas flights have already been canceled nationwide.

Officials in New York have issued a driving ban for Erie, Genesee, Niagara, and Orleans counties due to severe weather.

Misdemeanor tickets for people who disobey the travel ban will be enforced, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. 

Whiteout conditions have blanketed roads and most tow trucks are unable to go out due to dangerous conditions, Poloncarz said. 

Two utilities serving Erie County – the National Grid and New York State Electric and Gas – reported a total of about 30,000 power outages there, the county executive said at a 4 p.m. news conference Friday.

“Emergency resources will be deployed, but they’re not going to be deployed in the usual, quick fashion that we’ve become accustomed to,” Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Daniel Neaverth said.

He added the county’s 911 system had received 1,400 to 1,500 calls in a short period of time.

Roughly one million customers in the US are experiencing power outages amid winter weather and frigid temperatures late Friday, according to Poweroutage.us.

Here’s a look at the power outages by region as of 11:30 p.m. ET Friday:

Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Maryland and Virginia have the most outages heading into Saturday.

Many locations in the eastern US are in for their coldest Christmas Eve in decades.

Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Tallahassee are all forecast to have their coldest high temperature ever recorded on December 24, according to the National Weather Service.

Washington, DC, is forecast to see its second-coldest Christmas Eve, only behind 1989. In New York, it will be the coldest Christmas Eve since 1906. Chicago is expecting temperatures to rebound above zero, but the city will still experience its coldest Christmas Eve since 1983.

Many parts of Florida will experience the peak of their cold on Christmas Day. It will be the coldest December 25 since 1983 for Miami, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach, according to the weather service. 

Temperatures in the East will slowly moderate over the weekend, but it will still be the third-coldest Christmas Day on record for Atlanta and the coldest since 1989, according to forecasters. New York and Washington, DC, will each experience their coldest Christmas Day since 2000.

At least nine people have died across the United States as severe winter weather continues to impact millions of Americans.

Here is the latest from officials in each state reporting storm-related deaths:

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Caroll Alvarado, Raja Razek and Rebekah Riess contributed reporting.

Bad weather. Computer glitches. Staffing shortages. Oversold flights. Inflation. Holiday crunches. It has been a tough slog for many air travelers for much of 2022.

And it looks like the year will go out as rough as it came in with a severe winter storm that could make travel the week heading up to Christmas Day a dangerously cold, frustratingly messy affair.

What if you’re one of the unlucky passengers caught up in these events? What can you do?

Read more about steps you can take here:

A flight information display system shows departure times at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on December 27, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia.

Related article What should I do if my flight has been canceled or delayed?

A local sports reporter in Iowa went viral for getting “crankier and crankier” on the air after being asked to cover the weather.

In a video that’s racked up over 5 million views on Twitter, Mark Woodley of KWWL-TV said, “What better time to ask the sports guy to come in about 5 hours earlier than he would normally wake up, go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold and tell other people not to do the same?”

“Tune in for the next couple hours to watch me get progressively crankier and crankier,” he quipped in the video mashup.

Woodley told CNN’s Kristin Fisher that his responses on air were “just a bit of who I am.”

“You know, on air, I love to give my coworkers grief. … I was running on about three hours of sleep at that time, and some of the things maybe I wouldn’t have said if I had slept for eight hours, but, you know, it is what it is,” he said.  

But Woodley said he probably won’t be changing his beat from sports to weather any time soon.  

“If I’m asked, sure, I’ll do it, but that would be my absolute nightmare. So I hope to God they do not ask me to ever do that again,” he said.