An arctic storm swept across much of the United States on Saturday, causing thousands of flight cancellations, power blackouts and numerous road accidents. For several cities from Pennsylvania to Georgia, the weather service predicted the coldest Christmas Eve on record. Temperatures of up to minus 40 degrees were expected in some parts of the country. More than 90 centimeters of fresh snow were predicted for the state of New York.
From the Canadian to the Mexican border and from coast to coast, a total of around 240 million people were affected by winter warnings, according to the weather service. The arctic cold combined with strong winds and heavy snowfall wreaked havoc on the power grid, roads and commercial air travel. At least 3,741 flights in the United States were canceled on Saturday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. There were also more than 10,000 delays.