Just Some Of The Examples Of Wild Weather In U.S.

Virtually all of the nation east of a Portland, Oregon -
El Paso, Texas line is under wind chill, or storm 
alerts as of this afternoon. The huge red area in the
northern Plains is an immense blizzard warning.
Pink is winter storm warnings. The vast majority
of the blue shadings are wind chill alerts 

The long-anticipated horribly cold weather and winter storm was ramping up to full throttle in the United States this afternoon, and it will only get worse. And spread.  

So far, three deaths have been attributed to the storm, originating from vehicle crashes on icy highways in Kansas and Oklahoma. 

That toll will surely rise as dangerous conditions worsen and cover more territory. 

Various dangerous situations have already been cropping up. For instance, about 100 people were stranded in cars amid a blizzard and scary wind chills on Interstate 90 between Rapid City and Wall, South Dakota. 

The wind chill there during this whiteout was in the minus 40s below zero. 

As of 2:15 p.m. early afternoon, more than 1,900 flights in the United States were canceled and nearly 4,800 were delayed, according to flightaware.com

That number, not surprisingly, has been rising all day. Not only from cumulative effects but the fact the bad weather was quickly spreading. 

When the Arctic cold front hit any particular location, people living there sure knew it. 

When the cold front arrived in Denver, it was powerful enough to create a haboob (dust storm). The temperature fell from 41 degrees to 5 degrees in just one hour. The temperature fell 61 degrees between 2 p.m. and midnight in Denver  

The temperature ultimately ended up at 24 below in Denver Thursday morning, the second coldest December temperature on record in the Mile High City. 

Down in Amarillo, the temperature fell from 42 degrees to 11 degrees in just an hour.

Cheyenne, Wyoming was even more impressive. The temperature there fell by 32 degrees in just nine minutes when the cold front blustered through yesterday. 

Meanwhile, in Casper, Wyoming sank to 42 below zero, it's coldest temperature for any date on record. Data for Casper goes back to 1939.

Further east, things weren't really that bad in Chicago until about 11 a.m. local time today. Then, the front arrived, the temperature plunged snow broke out and the wind picked up. It'll keep deteriorating out there the rest of the day and night. 

Grocery and hardware stores, liquor outlets and cannabis distributors in Chicago reported huge crowds of people stocking up before the storm arrived, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Buffalo, New York often gets buried in lake effect snow, but it rarely rises to the level of full blown blizzard because the winds during these things aren't strong enough to qualify. 

Not this time. 

It's raining in Buffalo, now. But starting tomorrow morning, it's a completely new reality. An ugly one. Buffalo is forecasting 37 inches of snow, winds gusting to 65 mph and wind chills going way below zero. I can't imagine how tall the snow drifts will be when all that is said and done. 

Winter storms usually don't warrant a presidential briefing, but President Joe Biden was filled in on the chaos today from the National Weather Service."This is really a very serious weather alert here," Biden told reporters after the briefing. "This is not a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff."

So far, temperatures in at least 18 states have dipped below zero, and that's not including the wind chill. That number will go up.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. This huge winter blast won't last all that long. Long forecasters indicate that virtually the entire Lower 48 will be bathed in at least slightly above normal temperatures within a week.