America's Midwest and Northeast have been hit by one of the worst snow storms in the modern US history, with over 30 states affected.
Called the Big Freeze of 2011, over 2,000 miles of landscape -- from the Rocky Mountains to New England -- have experienced temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius and blizzard winds in excess of 100 kilometers per hour, a Press TV correspondent reported.
According to meteorologists, more blinding blizzards and North Pole like conditions are forecasted for the next week.
At least 12 people have died from the massive snowstorms. Some of them have frozen to death stranded in their cars, while others have died in car crashes on snow-covered streets.
Doug Kammerer -- a TV weatherman for NBC's Washington station WRC Television -- says there's never been so much snow and ice blanketing in the middle and eastern half of the country since the late 1800's.
“This year the Arctic is playing a certain role in allowing a lot of cold air to filter down into the eastern portion of the country… you're talking about some of the coldest temperatures ever in Colorado, coldest temperatures ever in Texas, and you look down at Florida and you're dealing with some of the coldest temperatures they've seen,” Kammerer told Press TV.
In Chicago, millions have lost power and heat, power lines are down, communications cut, and emergency services have been unable to operate in the third worst snowfall of its history,
“We're just not use to the severity of these storms. This is a historic storm. A storm like this that brings one to two feet of snow and 70-mile an hour winds is a storm that you just do not see very often,” Kammerer added.
The storm, which has caused an estimated one billion dollars-damage in properties, is bankrupting city and state budgets for snow removal.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163953.html
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