Heavy snowfall and rain hit California and other parts of the western United States on Friday following a new winter storm. Meanwhile, one of the strongest ice storms in decades has brought prolonged power outages to thousands of Michigan residents.
At least two people have died in connection with the storms. A Michigan firefighter died Wednesday after coming into contact with a downed high voltage power line. In Rochester, Minnesota, a pedestrian was killed in a collision with a snowplow.
Due to blizzards and snowfalls, approximately one million residential buildings and corporate offices from coast to coast of the United States were left without power. The elements led to the closure of major highways and disruptions to air traffic. More than 300 flights were canceled in the United States on Friday, with more than 5,000 delayed, according to FlightAware.com.
The National Weather Service has warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” in California that will last through Saturday. Up to one and a half meters of snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountain ranges.
The regional weather office called the storm a “historic event” for the amount of snowfall.
Interstate 5, the main north-south highway on the West Coast of the United States, was closed south of the Oregon line due to snowfall in the Sacramento Valley and a high pass mountain north of Los Angeles. Avalanche warnings have been issued in some areas.
In the northern state of Michigan, hundreds of thousands of people were left without power on Friday after a storm covered power lines and utility poles in ice about two centimeters thick.
At one point, more than 820,000 Michigan consumers were left in the dark. By Friday, that number had fallen to 700,000, mostly residents of the state’s densely populated southeast area around Detroit. Power is promised to be restored by Sunday, but given that by then the temperature will be around minus 18 degrees Celsius, this is cold comfort.
“In the past 50 years, we haven’t had an ice storm that had such an impact on our infrastructure,” said Trevor Lauer, president of Detroit-based energy company DTE Electric.
Portland, Oregon, experienced its second-highest snowfall on record this week, with nearly 11 inches (28 centimeters) of snowfall. The city’s icy roads are expected to thaw no earlier than Saturday.
However, someone was happy with such weather. In the San Francisco Bay Area, hundreds of people traveled to 760-meter-high Mount Tamalpais to play in the snow, which is rare in the region.
Evacuation warnings have even been issued for four areas in Ventura County, California. Meteorologists have warned that temperatures in the region could drop well below normal, posing a particular danger to the homeless.
