Biting Cold All over US and Record Snowfalls Too
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The official start of winter is still more than a month away but every state in the nation registered below freezing temperatures Tuesday.
That includes Hawaii’s highest volcanoes, which is not related to the arctic air mass that has enveloped the lower 48.
The same arctic air in the Gulf Coast and the Northeast produced temperatures as low as 20 degrees below average.
Meanwhile, half the United States is already covered in snow with parts of Western New York reporting more than six feet of accumulation Tuesday due to the lake effect that struck areas of south Buffalo, Lancaster and West Seneca.
The 76 inches of snow in some Buffalo suburbs was the most ever recorded in a 24-hour period anywhere in the U.S. The National Guard was also activated while a 100-mile stretch of the New York State Thruway was closed.
Local authorities also reported six storm-related deaths in Western New York Tuesday. Three people suffered heart attacks from shoveling, as a county highway employee died while snow blowing in the area. Another person was killed trying to push a car out of the snow, and a sixth death occurred when a person became pinned between cars.
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