The blizzard is so severe that schools and government offices in the United States are closed

The Metropolitan area of ​​North Virginia and central Maryland is expected to experience snowfall of about 25 centimeters and winds of up to 56 kilometers per hour. The National Weather Service has issued blizzard warnings for northern Alabama and parts of southern Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.

More than half of flights have been canceled or delayed at Washington’s Ronald Reagan and Turgot Marshall and Dallas international airports. According to the US company FlightAware, it provides flight data. The situation is no better at New York’s three major airports: a quarter of flights there have been canceled or delayed.

President Joe Biden’s helicopter was also not allowed to take off, so he had to fly from the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to the White House, where he arrived in Delaware for his weekend.

A White House press conference on Monday was canceled in light of the blizzard in the capital, although President Biden’s other public appearances were not postponed.

In Washington DC, federal offices were closed Monday, and school holidays were ordered in the capital and parts of Maryland and Virginia due to heavy snowfall. Many vaccination centers in the capital and in the two member states have been closed due to inclement weather.

On the East Coast, more than half a million homes have been cut off from electricity. There have been many road accidents on slippery roads.

The New Year began with snowfall in other American states. Snow fell in northwestern Washington State and Oregon, and heavy roads and strong winds had to close country roads. They woke up to the floating snow in South Florida.

COVER: A woman walks in front of the Capitol building in Washington on January 3, 2022, in heavy snow. MTI / AB / J. Scott Applewhite