At least two people have died as a massive winter storm and dangerously cold temperatures swept across the United States late last week and into the weekend, officials said.
Two men died from hypothermia in Caddo Parish, in the Shreveport area, according to a Louisiana Department of Health news release. Additional details were not released.
Winter Storm Fern has dumped multiple inches of snow and ice and driven frigid temperatures across large portions of the country.
In New York City, officials are investigating whether the extreme weather may have contributed to the deaths of five people found on Saturday, Jan. 24, in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, WABC reported. Authorities have not confirmed whether the storm was directly connected.
An arctic air mass helped fuel the system, which stretched from the Central and Southern Plains to the East Coast. Winter weather began Friday, Jan. 23, and is expected to continue into the Northeast through Monday, Jan. 26.
The storm has tracked north and east, bringing snowfall to states including Arkansas, Kansas, Maryland, and Oklahoma, while freezing rain and ice hit parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, and other areas.
The widespread plunge in temperatures is being driven by a polar vortex that began dipping into the U.S. last week.
Before the storm arrived, AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter warned that hundreds of thousands of people could potentially “go without electricity and heat for days” because of the system.
AccuWeather meteorologist Emma Belscher said some communities may take time to warm above freezing even after the storm moves through. “This will prolong impacts,” she said, as snow and ice may melt slowly and can easily refreeze overnight.
Several major metro areas have been affected so far, including Dallas, Austin, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, according to AccuWeather.
NBC News reported that weather alerts stretched across 37 states, affecting about 190 million people. It also reported that roughly 875,000 customers were experiencing power outages from Texas to West Virginia, citing PowerOutage.us.
