Dozens confirmed dead as extreme cold continues to grip large part of U.S.

Dozens of people across multiple states have been confirmed dead after a powerful winter storm swept through large parts of the country, leaving a trail of damage and extreme cold lingering in its wake.

As of Wednesday, CBS News has confirmed at least 41 deaths directly caused by storm conditions or weather-related accidents, with local officials in numerous cities reporting about 20 additional deaths that appear to be related to the winter weather. 

Hypothermia from exposure to the cold, car accidents, snowplow accidents, sledding accidents and sudden cardiac emergencies linked to shoveling snow were among the causes of death reported so far. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said 10 people had been found dead in the cold there, though not all of their causes of death had been confirmed yet.

The winter storm swept across two-thirds of the United States over the weekend and into Monday, affecting some 200 million people with a mixture of heavy snow, rain, sleet and freezing temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. 

Frigid conditions have persisted through the week, with cold air gripping the eastern half of the country and continuing to drive temperatures far below normal, CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said. 

The weather service warned that this “could be the longest duration of cold in several decades.”

Extreme cold alerts remained in effect through Thursday across parts of the eastern U.S., where wind chills well below zero degrees Fahrenheit were expected and temperatures were forecast to hover between 15 and 25 degrees below the average for this time of year. In and around New York City, wind chills ranged from minus-15 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, CBS New York reported. And another surge of Arctic air was on its way.

Ongoing power outages

Hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power for days after the weekend’s snowstorm. As of Wednesday, more than 400,000 outages were reported, primarily in southern and southeastern states, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. 

The outages were most widespread in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, with some outages also reported in Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

New snowstorm possible

Meteorologists have also warned of another Arctic blast headed southward into the U.S., which was expected to arrive later this week, potentially bringing with it a string of record low temperatures. Pockets of the Northeast should prepare for more snow, as cold air moving across the Great Lakes fuels some downwind snowfall off Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Lake effect snow warnings were in effect through Thursday night in portions of upstate and western New York, including in cities such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown and Rochester, which could see 1 to 2 feet of snow or more, according to the National Weather Service. 

Massachusetts residents were also bracing for what meteorologists have described as a potential “bomb cyclone” over the upcoming weekend, CBS Boston reported, although the forecast for that possible storm remained uncertain at mid-week. A bomb cyclone is a rapidly strengthening storm system, and meteorologists said this one could bring snow, wind and offshore wave heights similar to a hurricane.