Because global warming…
Battered by the bomb cyclone which brought heavy snow and flooding to a swathe of the US, America is facing the threat of the big chill says the Daily Telegraph.
As workers started shovelling away the mountain of snow, temperatures started plunging.
They plummeted to as low as -20C (-4F) in many parts of New England. In Caribou, northern Maine, the wind chill was poised to bring the reading down to -40C (-40F).
According to the National Weather Service, the lowest temperature on Friday, -41C (-42F), was recorded at Embarrass, Minnesota. On the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, forecasters expect the biting winds to make it feel as if it was -100F (-70C).
Some parts of the US are bracing themselves for the coldest temperatures on record over the next few days, with the lowest readings expected on Sunday morning.
Such is the cold that there are fears that they will render useless the grit used to make roads passable.
Experts warned that bitterly cold temperatures pose a serious health risk, with frostbite taking hold swiftly.
“Any kind of exposed skin can freeze in a couple of minutes.” Wind chill describes the combined effect of wind and low temperatures on bare skin,” Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist with private forecasting service AccuWeather.
The cold snap is already estimated to have claimed at least 19 lives.
Via the Telegraph