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More than 1,000 flights were canceled in several states, while some 100,000 homes were without power in California. Some 29,000 students will be affected the rest of the week by the storm and will have to continue classes virtually.
“Brutal”, this is how the AP news agency described the snowstorm that is hitting a large area of the United States, including the north, west and east of the North American nation. According to the national meteorological service, in some locations up to 60 centimeters of snow and strong winds of up to 97 km / h are expected.
The weather phenomenon hit eastern California. More than 100,000 houses were left without electricity, especially in the center of the state. A combination of snow and rain arrived in that region, which generated a warning call from specialists to avoid accidents on slippery roads.
According to meteorologist Frank Pereira, of the Center for Weather Prediction located in Maryland, “traveling will be almost impossible.”
Pereira confirmed that the roads will be dangerous in the upper Midwest. Also downed wires and loss of electrical current due to felling trees.
Scholars affirm that these sudden changes in weather, between winter storms, waves of extreme heat and droughts, are an irrefutable indication of climate change that the planet is experiencing.
virtual classes
In Minneapolis, one of the cities hardest hit by the storm, about 50 centimeters of snow and 72 km/h winds are expected. Their public schools closed and they decided to teach classes virtually. Some 29,000 students will apply this modality the rest of the week.
Other school districts in Wyoming, Colorado, among others, canceled their educational sessions. The snow also canceled more than 1,200 flights between the affected areas.
“Impossible to keep up with nature”
The authorities ask the inhabitants to stay in their homes. North Dakota Patrol Sergeant Wade Kardmas warned of the difficulties such outings pose for authorities, saying that “it is sometimes physically impossible to keep up with Mother Nature” when it comes to rescues.
And it is that those who leave in the middle of the storm in their cars believe that there will be no problems. According to Kardmas, even in cars you have to take measures, since some “don’t have a winter jacket” and “may be wearing shorts and flip-flops, just thinking that they are going to go from point A to point B and nothing is going to come out.” evil”.
For this occasion, the airlines even used a strategy to prevent travelers from going to airport facilities in vain. At the Minneapolis airport, most scheduled flights were canceled before the storm.
“I think airlines are trying to make sure that they can, looking at the big picture, make those cancellations so they can better respond after the storm and recover faster,” said Jeff Lea, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Airport Services Commission. of local aviation.
So far, only the situation of one injured person is known, a child affected in San Francisco by the felling of a tree. Fire crews had to cut the trunk in order to free the under-one-year-old.
Temperatures can drop as low as -29 degrees Celsius on Thursday and as low as -25 on Friday in parts of North Dakota. Even a specialist stressed that the thermal sensation can reach -46 degrees Celsius.
With Reuters, AP and local media
