U.S. Midwest slapped by record cold before Christmas

DENVER, the United States, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A blast of Arctic air covering a huge area in America's West and Midwest plummeted temperatures east of the Rocky Mountains Thursday, as part of a widespread cold outbreak that will leave most of the country in a deep freeze prior to the Christmas holiday.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a warning for drivers to stay off slick Midwest roads if possible, and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told the media the Colorado capital was at the "breaking point" due to "limited resources," by responding to critical human needs from the Arctic blast and the frost-biting weather.

By Thursday afternoon, Denver stood in the middle and coldest spot of a massive Arctic front, stretching West to East some 3,200 kilometers, from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois, and North to South from Fargo, North Dakota to Dallas, Texas, a 1,700-km distance.

Across the Denver Metro area, residents going outside bundled in many layers and "frost-bite" and "extreme weather" warnings were issued across Colorado by authorities. Police reported numerous minor accidents.

The temperature in Denver dropped to 24 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-31.1 degrees centigrade) early Thursday, "the coldest official temperature in Denver since Dec. 22, 1990, exactly 32 years ago," 9News reported Thursday.

In addition, Denver was at 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees centigrade) Wednesday afternoon before the weather plunged historically with temps going from 42 degrees to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (5.6 to -15 degrees centigrade) in just one hour, setting an all-time record.

This temperature fall eclipsed the previous biggest one-hour drop, from 41 degrees to 6 degrees Fahrenheit (5 to -11.8 degrees centigrade) in the afternoon of Jan. 27, 2007, the Weather Channel said.

In anticipation of the overwhelming cold and emergency, Colorado Governor Jared Polis called up the National Guard on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Denver opened the shuttered Denver Coliseum where migrants were given shelter.

Denver's homeless and a recent influx of more than 1,300 migrants on buses from the Mexican border have tapped the city's services.

Cheyenne, capital city of Wyoming, also recorded its greatest one-hour temperature drop on record Wednesday, going from 43 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit (6.1 to -16.1 degrees centigrade) in just 30 minutes.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued blizzard and wind chill warnings for both North and South Dakota, and their eastern neighboring states of Minnesota and Iowa, while hard freeze and ice storm warnings seen throughout the Great Lakes region Thursday.

"The RealFeel will be even harsher in cities such as Rapid City, South Dakota, and Scottsbluff, Nebraska, as both locations could record RealFeel temperatures as low as 60 below zero," Accuweather reported.

In Kansas on Thursday, a vehicle slid off a slick roadway and flipped upside down into an icy creek, where the driver was trapped and killed, Kansas City Police reported of the tragedy that occurred at 2 p.m. local time (2000 GMT).

The minus-32-degree (-35.6 degree centigrade) wind chill recorded at Kansas's state capital Wichita at local time 8 a.m. (1400 GMT) was the coldest reported in Wichita since at least 2000, the NWS said Thursday.

An extreme plunge in the temperature "transformed the weather from pleasant to dangerously cold in the matter of hours," Accuweather noted, "and experts warned the cold will reach levels that haven't been felt in decades."