At least 22 die in brutal cold across U.S.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 — At least 22 people in the United States have died in brutal cold weather following a massive winter storm causing the weather to become even more unbearable across the Northeast and Midwest of the country on Saturday.

Forecasters said that the frigid temperatures will make Saturday the coldest day of the week before a gradual warming trend begining Sunday.  On Saturday, more than 110 million people will be affected by either a wind-chill warning or a weather advisory, covering the geographical area from the Great Lakes to New England, they said.  Cities like Minneapolis and Boston are set to reach sub-zero temperatures Saturday with blistering wind-chills. Some affected areas could be as low as minus 40 degrees celsius, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.

CBS News has confirmed that at least 22 people nationwide have died from the recent blast of cryogenic-like-temperatures. One of such victims was a Wisconsin man reported missing late last month. In one of the latest fatalities attributed to the weather, a car slid off an icy road, killing a pedestrian early on Friday in North Charleston, South Carolina, city officials said. In Virginia, two died in the aftermath of a snowstorm this week, including a girl struck by a pickup truck while sledding and a 75-year-old man hit by a snow-plow while clearing the business parking lots, said local authorities.

Outside Boston, Massachusetts, a state Water Resources Authority worker collapsed into a snowbank while shoveling snow and died on Friday.  The intense “bomb cyclone” first struck the southeastern U.S. state of Florida earlier this week, causing frozen iguana dropping to fall from the trees. The storm then swept in on Thursday with winds gusts exceeding 113km per hour, dumping more than a foot of snow across eight states before ending on Friday, local media reported. – XINHUA