An “extreme” blizzard has caused widespread disruption in the western US – with more than 10ft of snow piling up in places.
Thousands of properties were left without power in California and Nevada over the weekend, while the state of Utah was also hit.
The states have also been affected by heavy rain and wind speeds of more than 100mph – including a tornado that rained debris down on an elementary school in Madera County, California.
Hundreds of motorists were left stranded on the Interstate 80 highway between Reno and Sacramento due to the conditions, forcing authorities to shut down 100 miles (160km) of the busy road.
Officials said there had been “multiple” reports of crashes and drivers losing control.
A Major League Soccer game in Salt Lake City, Utah, was among the sporting fixtures disrupted – although officials controversially decided to allow play to continue despite heavy snow, a two-hour delay to kick-off and a stoppage for lightning.
Los Angeles FC manager Steve Cherundolo, whose side lost 3-0 to hosts Real Salt Lake, branded Saturday’s match a “disgrace” and said it should have been called off.
Image: Los Angeles FC and Real Salt Lake footballers played on despite heavy snow. Pic: Rob Gray/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Several ski resorts in the affected states were also forced to close due to the amount of snowfall and poor visibility.
More than 7,000 homes in California were left without power, while power cuts in and around Las Vegas affected almost 29,000 properties on Saturday.
Image: A family struggle through the snow in Truckee, California. Pic: Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group via AP
The storm first began sweeping in on Thursday, with the freezing conditions, snow and storms expected to continue into Wednesday in some areas.
A blizzard warning covered a 300-mile stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountain region on Sunday, with forecasters warning more snow was likely.
One of the worst-affected areas was the town of Truckee near Lake Tahoe in California, where homes, businesses and vehicles were buried in more than 10ft of snow.
Resident Dubravka Tomasin described the blizzard as “pretty harrowing.”
Image: A house is buried in snow in the town of Truckee. Pic: Ashley Belline/via Reuters
National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said the conditions represented a “life-threatening concern” and said snow could pile up to more than 12ft deep by the end of Sunday in higher regions.
He described the storm as an “extreme blizzard,” adding: “It’s certainly just about as bad as it gets in terms of the snow totals and the winds. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
Image: Crews try to repair damaged electricity cables in Truckee. Pic: AP Photo/Brooke Hess-Homeier
Other attractions forced to close over the weekend included Yosemite National Park in California, while authorities also warned of an ongoing “high to extreme” danger of avalanches in mountain regions.
Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies.
Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.
He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.
Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.
People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.
People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
Image: Pic: AP
Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.
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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
US vice president JD Vance has met with Pope Francis.
The “quick and private” meeting took place at the Pope’s residence, Casa Santa Marta, in Vatican City, sources told Sky News.
The meeting came amid tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration over the US president’s crackdown on migrants and cuts to international aid.
No further details have been released on the meeting between the vice president and the Pope, who has been recovering following weeks in hospital with double pneumonia.
Mr Vance, who is in Rome with his family, also met with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
The Vatican said there had been “an exchange of opinions” over international conflicts, migrants and prisoners.
According to a statement, the two sides had “cordial talks” and the Vatican expressed satisfaction with the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting freedom of religion and conscience.
“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees and prisoners,” the statement said.
Francis has previously called the Trump administration’s deportation plans a “disgrace”.
Mr Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the immigration crackdown.
The pope rebutted the theological concept Mr Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the US Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Mr Trump’s plan a “major crisis” for the US.
“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” the Pope said in the letter.
Mr Vance has acknowledged Francis’s criticism but said he would continue to defend his views. During an appearance in late February at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he did not address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there were “things about the faith that I don’t know”.
While he had criticised Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for the pontiff’s recovery.