Winter Storms Cause Accidents and Deaths Across the U.S.

The snow might look pretty, but with the cold and ice, it’s nothing to play with. Please people, stay calm, safe, and warm.

The Fifth Column

VIDEO: http://time.com/4605773/winter-storms-accidents-deaths/?xid=homepage

TIME

A winter storm of snow, freezing rain and bone-chilling temperatures socked the nation’s mid-section and East Coast on Saturday, causing hundreds of accidents on icy roads and putting a crimp on Christmas shopping.

At least five deaths were blamed on the slick roads and authorities were investigating a few other traffic fatalities as possibly weather-related. Perhaps the biggest accident happened in Baltimore, when a tanker carrying gasoline skidded off a highway and exploded, authorities said.

Two people died and at least 15 were injured in the 55-vehicle pileup on Interstate 95, Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark said. He said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.

“We have nothing but sheets of ice throughout the city, sidewalks,” Clark said.

It was unclear whether the pileup started before the tanker crash or was caused by it. The northbound lanes of I-95 were closed…

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Cold U.S. Temperatures Expected To Break Records As ‘Polar Vortex’ Blasts Midwest

 

 

I’m in Illinois, and we are now getting large flakes of snow on top of what is already here. Why does the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” come top mind? 🙂

The Fifth Column

The Huffington Post

The weather warnings are dire: Life threatening wind chills. Historic cold outbreak. Bitter cold temperatures.

Winter is normally cold, but starting Sunday tundra-like temperatures are poised to deliver a rare and potentially dangerous sledgehammer blow to much of the Midwest, driving temperatures so far below zero that records will shatter.

One reason? A “polar vortex,” as one meteorologist calls it, which will send cold air piled up at the North Pole down to the U.S., funneling it as far south as the Gulf Coast.

The temperature predictions are startling: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. At those temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can quickly set in because wind chills could hit 50, 60 or even 70 below zero.

Temperature records will likely be broken during the short, yet forceful…

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