Record-breaking arctic blast grips US, knocks out power to millions

An arctic blast gripped much of the United States on Saturday, knocking out power to 1.7 million homes and businesses across the country, and leaving millions more worried about further outages. At the same time, it drove flight cancellations, car wrecks, and crippled police and fire departments as plummeting temperatures were predicted to bring the coldest Christmas Eve on record to several cities from Pennsylvania to Georgia.

Temperatures are forecast to top out on Saturday at just minus 13 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pittsburgh, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of minus 10 degrees Celsius, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Georgia and South Carolina cities – Athens and Charleston – were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures. At the same time, Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1989….(Excerpt from The Daily Sabah)