MISSION, Kan. : Tens of millions of Americans suffered freezing temperatures, snowstorms, power outages and cancellations of Friday holiday gatherings. This was due to a winter storm of almost unprecedented magnitude, according to forecasters, which left about 60% of the US population under some kind of winter weather advisory or condition. warning.

More than 200 million people were advised or warned on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The Bureau of Meteorology map "shows him one of the largest winter weather warnings and advisories ever," said the forecaster.

More than 200 million people received advice or warnings on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The Bureau of Meteorology's map "shows one of the largest winter weather warnings and advisories ever," said the forecaster.

According to his website PowerOutage, which tracks power company reports, the blackout has left about 1.4 million homes and businesses in darkness. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest utility, ended rolling blackouts Friday afternoon but continued to encourage homes and businesses to save electricity. In Georgia, hundreds of people in Atlanta and upstate were hit with power outages, facing potentially freezing temperatures and no heating.

And nearly 5,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were cancelled Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travellers try to make it home for the holidays. In Canada, WestJet cancelled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 am as meteorologists in the country warned of a potential once-in-a-decade weather event.

Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. Multiple highways were closed and the crash claimed at least six lives, officials said.

Brent Whitehead said it took him 7.5 hours __ instead of the usual six __ to drive from his home near Minneapolis to his parent's home outside Chicago on Thursday in sometimes icy conditions. “Thank goodness I had my car equipped with snow tires,” he said.

In Chicago, Andy Robledo planned to spend the day organizing efforts to check on people without housing through his nonprofit, Feeding People Through Plants. Robledo and volunteers build tents modelled on ice-fishing tents, including a plywood subfloor. But it`s a huge step up from what they had before,” Robledo said. Shelters called for volunteers amid high demand and staffing issues.

At about the same time, Corey Newcomb and his family were entering their sixth hour without power at their home in the small town of Phenix, Virginia. “We are coping and that`s about it,” Newcomb said in a Facebook message. “We have families that are way out there that we haven`t heard from in two weeks,” Wayne Boyd, chief of staff to the Rosebud Sioux president, said.

Fearing that some are running out of food, the tribe was hoping to get a helicopter on Saturday to check on the stranded.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe, meanwhile, was using snowmobiles to reach members who live at the end of miles-long dirt roads.

“It’s been one heck of a fight so far,” said tribal President Frank Star Comes Out.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Harlie Young was huddled with five children and her 58-year-old father around a wood stove as 12-foot (3.6-meter) snow drifts blocked the house.

“We’re just trying to look on the bright side that they’re still coming and they didn’t forget us,” she said Friday, as the temperature plunged to frigid lows.

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

Atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, the wind topped 150 mph (241 kph).

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

In parts of New York City, tidal flooding inundated roads, homes and businesses Friday morning, with police trudging through knee-deep water to pull stranded motorists to safety in Queens.
By midday Friday, a compilation of his broadcasts had been viewed nearly 5 million times on Twitter.

“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news,” he told an anchor. “The good news is that I can still feel my face right now. The bad news is, I kind of wish I couldn’t.