Weather tracker: Winter storms cause death and outages across eastern north America

"Cold weather across a vast swathe of the eastern US has been the likely cause of at least 49 deaths in the past week. At one point, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warnings, affecting areas from New Mexico to New England a spread of about 2,000 miles (3,200km). Millions were told to stay at home, and at one point there were more than a million people without power. As of Wednesday night, there were still 312,000 outages, mostly across Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas."

"This winter storm then spread into eastern Canada, with Toronto's Pearson airport setting a record for the most snow to fall in one day at that location, with 46cm (18.1in). Downtown Toronto recorded even more, with 56cm of snow recorded on Sunday. Further winter storm watches and warnings have been issued across parts of the US for later this week. For parts of the mid-Atlantic, heavy snow could bring about 10-20cm of accumulations between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, with North Carolina, east Tennessee, upstate South Carolina, Virginia and north-east Georgia most at risk."

"Parts of central and northern Portugal were affected by Storm Kirstin earlier this week, with heavy rain and strong winds causing more than 3,000 weather-related incidents and five deaths. A peak wind gust of 110mph (178km/h) was recorded at Monte Real airbase in Leiria, with flooding, landslides and widespread damage reported. Ten coastal areas were placed under a red weather warning on Wednesday due to dangerous sea conditions, with waves expected to reach up to 14 metres."

A severe cold snap in the eastern US likely caused at least 49 deaths and prompted winter warnings for about 213 million people across a 2,000-mile span. Millions were advised to stay home and power outages peaked above one million, with 312,000 outages remaining across Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The storm moved into eastern Canada, producing record daily snow at Toronto Pearson (46cm) and 56cm downtown. Further US winter watches warn of 10-20cm for parts of the mid-Atlantic. Storm Kirstin battered central and northern Portugal, causing five deaths, 3,000 incidents, extreme winds and coastal red warnings. Southeast Australia experienced record heat near 49C, prompting extreme fire danger warnings.

Read at www.theguardian.com