Temperatures plunge as low as -31C as ‘bomb cyclone’ weather storm hits US
More than 100 million Americans have been warned to brace for a “bomb cyclone” bringing severe winter weather to the US.
Temperatures across central states have plunged, with the mercury dipping to -25F (-31C) in Montana.
Places like Des Moines, Iowa, will feel like -37F (-39C) making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes.
More than 2,200 flights in and out of US airports have been cancelled and 114 million people are under weather alerts as heavy snow and life-threatening wind chills sparks holiday travel chaos.
Just a few days before Christmas, nearly 7,000 flights within, to, or out of the US have been delayed with blizzard warnings in effect for portions of eight states.
Pic: National Weather Service
Many of the cancelations and delays are happening at some of the country’s busiest airports.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport has reported at least 550 cancellations and more than 500 delays while Chicago Midway International Airport has had more than 250 cancellations and 73 delays.
Denver International Airport has recorded 565 cancellations and nearly 580 delays as of Thursday afternoon local time.
More than 120 million people are under wind chill alerts. Forecasters said temperatures in some areas have dropped more than 30 degrees in a matter of minutes.
By the time the weather system has moved through, an estimated 192 million people across 46 states will have experienced wind chills below zero.
Hundreds of drivers stranded
In South Dakota, more than 100 drivers became stranded when the arctic blast hit the state with sub-zero temperatures.
As authorities worked to rescue those stranded, the local sheriff’s office told drivers to stay in their vehicles and call 911.
Rosebud Sioux Tribe emergency manager Robert Oliver said tribal authorities have been working to clear roads to deliver propane and firewood to homes, but face a relentless wind that has created drifts over 10 feet in some places. He said five have died in recent storms, including a blizzard from last week.
In Minnesota, police responded to nearly 50 vehicle crashes between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Wet roadways also caused 118 vehicle spinouts and a crash involving a semi-truck, the State Patrol said.
In South Dakota, the winter storm system left some motorists stranded on city streets, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. Workers removed people from their cars throughout the night. A photo from the agency showed people sleeping on makeshift beds on the floor of a building.
Falling snow in Boston, Massachusetts
‘This is not like a snow day when you were a kid’
President Joe Biden has warned Americans to take the storm seriously.
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” he said after a briefing from federal officials.
Joe Biden has urged the public to take the storm seriously
“This is serious stuff.”
When they made America truly great its backbone was forged in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The steel for 80% of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, many of the US Navy’s battleships, and even the entire San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, all came from its blast furnaces in the hills north of Philadelphia.
Its mammoth steel plants stretched for almost five miles.
They lie empty and unused, now a huge open-air museum for guided tours led by former plant workers like Don Young.
US election latest: ‘We’re gonna have to lock them up,’ Trump says after suing CBS for $10bn
The 87-year-old has been married to Barbara for 20 years, but their marriage has been tested in recent months, as have many others in the most divisive presidential election in living memory.
Both Republicans, she is for Donald Trump, he is emphatically not.
Mr Trump, I pointed out, claimed he could make America great again. Did he believe him?
“No, I do not believe him. My wife does,” he said. “I’ve seen the rise of dictators in history.
“As much as I am a studier of the history of industry, I’m also a studier of the history of politics and world politics. And, you know, Mr Trump’s campaign literally, literally mirrors that of Adolf Hitler.”
His wife sees Mr Trump completely differently: “I absolutely do not agree with that. And I’m sorry to hear my husband say this. And I actually believe we have seen what President Trump can do and how our country was when he was in office.”
Read more from Sky News:
‘Mum-of-three left homeless after reporting threats to police
Spain reels from deadly flash floods
Girl’s father beat her up ‘like crazy’, stepmother wrote on WhatsApp
Mr Young now offers tours of the former steel plants
Trump ‘is the future for America’, Ms Young says
Their town has recovered from the collapse of Bethlehem Steel. But it’s the state of America that worries Ms Young now.
And it is Mr Trump who can save it, she said.
“He is the future for America,” she said. “I don’t want to see people coming over our border. We’ve had women murdered and raped by illegal immigrants. Who wants their children dead as a result of fentanyl, which comes over the border?”
Trump is ‘going to run America into the ground’
Her husband’s view is diametrically opposed.
“I think he’s going to run America into the ground because he does not observe any of the Democratic norms that his predecessors have,” he said.
“He didn’t observe them when he was in office. And so that’s just a window on what will happen in this coming term.”
Pennsylvania will likely determine presidential election result
Their marriage mirrors the state of play in the place they live in.
Pennsylvania is on a knife edge, say the polls, split right down the middle and the outcome here will likely determine the result on election day in this most important of swing states.
They can agree on one thing. They cannot wait for this election to be over.
Mr Young said their marriage can survive a Trump victory. Ms Young thinks so too.
The closest, nastiest, most divisive presidential election in living memory will be over soon. The bitterness and division that has plagued it less so in this deeply polarised country.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have won baseball’s World Series for the second time in five years but the celebrations were marred by looting and violence.
The Dodgers took the title by beating the New York Yankees 4-1 in the best-of-seven final in New York on Wednesday night, US time.
But soon after the match ended and jubilant Dodgers fans spilled on to the streets to celebrate, there were reports of a bus being set on fire, shops being looted and fireworks thrown at police in scenes of “absolute chaos” in downtown LA.
Los Angeles Dodgers players celebrate winning baseball’s World Series. Pic: AP
At around 10.45pm, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said it received reports of “looting at several stores in the area of 8th and Broadway”.
Ordering people to “leave the area immediately” on X, the force reposted a video of looters raiding a Nike store where a door had been removed so thieves could get in.
A Dodgers fan celebrates in Los Angeles. Pic: Reuters
Several dispersal orders were issued for different locations in the city, including in streets close to the Dodger Stadium in the Elysian Park area.
A bus was set on fire as part of the disorder.
Eyewitness and LA resident Taylor Rosa, 27, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News it was “absolute chaos”, as people “got out of control and started looting and jumping on top of a bus”.
Among the comments on Instagram were “damn embarrassment” and “they act like the Dodgers lost”.
Multiple arrests were made throughout the night in Echo Park and the downtown area, according to the Los Angeles Scanner account on X.
The LAPD later spoke of a “hostile crowd” and that “various projectiles”, including rocks and bottles, were being thrown at officers.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Meanwhile, two Yankees fans missed the end of the series after they were banned for interfering with play during the fourth match, the New York team’s only win.
They grappled with the Dodgers’s Mookie Betts as he tried to catch a shot by the fence at the Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
Read more:
Musk summoned to court over $1m voter giveaway
Passengers removed from plane over Trump hat row
‘Distressing’ harassment of women at abortion clinics
As Betts leapt at the wall and caught the ball, one fan grabbed his glove with both hands and wrenched the ball out, as another grabbed Betts’s other hand.
They were thrown out of the game and banned from the next one.
The Dodgers beat the Yankees 7-6 in game five. Pic: AP
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani with the trophy. Pic: AP
The last time the Dodgers won the title, in 2020, the season was shortened by the COVID pandemic, which prevented them from staging a victory parade.
This year’s parade is to take place on Friday.
Elon Musk has been summoned to an emergency court hearing on Thursday over the $1m prizes he has been awarding registered voters in swing states.
The Tesla and X chief executive has been ordered by a judge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to address a civil case by the city’s top prosecutor to stop Mr Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, from giving the cash away.
The suit accuses Mr Musk of operating an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Mr Musk and his PAC are backing Mr Trump, the Republican nominee.
US election latest: Trump speaks from garbage truck
The controversial billionaire promised to give $1m (£772,000) each day to resgistered voters in swing states who have signed his online free speech and gun rights petition.
The first $1m was awarded to a man named John Dreher during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on 19 October.
Both Mr Trump and Ms Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they fight for its 19 electoral votes.
Mr Musk is the world’s richest person and is worth $274bn (£210bn), according to Forbes, so the approximate $17m (£13m) he’s vowed to give away is a tiny fraction of his wealth.
The 53-year-old had donated $75m (£58m) to American PAC in the period up to mid-October.
👉Listen to The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈
Documents filed by Philadelphia’s district attorney Larry Krasner also revealed that the lawsuit against Mr Musk had “triggered an avalanche of [social media] posts from Musk’s followers,” many of whom “made antisemitic attacks on Krasner”.
The attorney asked for enhanced security for the hearing, which was originally scheduled for Friday, after users on X had published Mr Krasner’s home address.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Tell him I’ll register, $1 million!’
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
America PAC is one of several major political action committees in the US.
Such groups can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of political candidates, on the condition that they do not coordinate with their campaigns or give money to them.
Mr Trump has said he will give Mr Musk a government job if he becomes president again.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway