U.S. winter storm to bring coldest Christmas in decades

U.S. may witness a major winter storm this week and may be bring the coldest Christmas in four decades to parts of the country, as about 90 million people are under winter weather alerts across 37 states, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said that once-in-a-generation cold snap which began in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, before churning east will become a bomb cyclone by Friday.

NWS further added that bone-chilling temperatures of -50F (-45C) and -70F were possible by the end of this week in some parts of the country.

The storm comes as the Transportation Security Administration said it expects holiday travel volume to be close to pre-pandemic levels, with the busiest day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Southwest Airlines cancelled some 500 of the company’s 4,000 scheduled flights for Thursday and Friday.