Massive winter storm wallops US and Canada

Tens of millions of Americans have endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and cancelled holiday gatherings from a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60 percent of the US population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.

More than 200 million people were under an advisory or warning on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The weather service's map "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," forecasters said.

Power outages have left about 1.4 million homes and businesses in the dark, according to the website PowerOutage, which tracks utility reports.

Utilities in Nashville, Memphis and throughout the Tennessee Valley said they were implementing rolling blackouts Friday to conserve power as the region battles an extreme cold front.

More than 4,600 flights within, into or out of the US were cancelled, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travelers try to make it home for the holidays.

READ MORE: Massive winter storm sweeps across US, cancels thousands of holiday travels

From border to border

The huge storm stretched from border to border.

In Canada, WestJet cancelled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 am

In Mexico, migrants waited near the US border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a US Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum.

Even though fleets of snow plows and salt trucks have been deployed, driving was hazardous and sometimes deadly. A Kansas City, Missouri,  a driver died on Thursday after skidding into a creek. And state police in Michigan said reported multiple crashes Friday, including a pileup involving nine tractor-trailers.

Activists also were rushing to get the homeless out of the cold. 

Nearly 170 adults and children were keeping warm early Friday in Detroit at a shelter and a warming center that are designed to hold 100 people.

The weather service is forecasting the coldest Christmas in more than two decades in Philadelphia, where school officials shifted classes online on Friday.

States at emergency

In Portland, Oregon, officials opened five emergency shelters. Fallen trees and power lines have closed roads across the Portland metro area. And nearly 80 kilometres of Interstate 84, a major highway through the Columbia River Gorge, were closed Friday morning.

In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem late on Thursday activated the state's National Guard to haul firewood from the Black Hills Forest Service to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe as some members were stranded in their homes with dwindling fuel.

Other tribes also were struggling, including the Oglala Sioux Tribe in the western part of the state, which was using snowmobiles to reach members who live at the end of miles-long dirt roads.

In Maine, fast approaching gusts were reported along the coast on Friday morning. 

In Boston, rain combined with a high tide, sent waves over the seawall at Long Wharf in Boston and flooded some downtown streets.

In Jackson, Mississippi, the mayor had expressed concerns that the city’s beleaguered water system — which has led to numerous water shortages in recent years — remained vulnerable to subfreezing temperatures.

But while there have been some water main breaks, the main water plants "held up to the temperature drops overnight," city spokeswoman Melissa Faith Payne said.

It was so bad in Vermont that Amtrak canceled service for the day, and nonessential state offices were closing early.

"I’m hearing from crews who are seeing grown trees ripped out by the roots," Mari McClure, president of Green Mountain Power, the state's largest utility, said at a news conference.

Calling it a "kitchen sink storm," New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergencyon Friday as wintry weather heads into the state.

Storm causes havoc across Canada

Strong winds, freezing rain and heavy snowfall closed schools, cut power to homes and cancelled flights across Canada on Friday as a powerful winter storm swept across the country, prompting authorities to warn people to stay indoors ahead of worsening conditions.

The storm is connected to the same freezing weather system that has enveloped much of the United States.

The storm was expected to affect about two-thirds of all Canadians as it moves across Canada's two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, toward Atlantic Canada, said Environment Canada meteorologist Steve Flisfeder in Toronto.

"Every winter we expect storms (but) this one is significant," he said. 

"We're seeing differing weather types that are all leading to different impacts ... affecting a very large population base in a short time span."

Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity over the past 70 years, according to the US Global Change Research Program. This is in part due to climate crisis, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, because the planet evaporates more water into the atmosphere as it warms, leading to more overall precipitation.