AS Bagian Tengah dan Timur Lebih Dingin dari Kutub Utara
The Midwest and the East were Colder than much of Antarctica
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Chicago (B2B) - Hembusan udara sedingin Kutub Utara mencekam bagian tengah Amerika Serikat pada Senin, dengan suhu terdingin dalam dua dekade yang menyebabkan empat kematian, memaksa penutupan bisnis dan sekolah, serta membatalkan ribuan penerbangan.
Rumah singgah bagi tuna wisma membludak akibat cuaca dingin yang digambarkan beberapa ahli meteorologi sebagai "polar vortex" atau pusaran kutub.
Temperatur berkiar antara 11 sampai 22 derajat Celsius di bawah rata-rata di Montana, Dakota Utara dan Selatan, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan dan Nebraska menurut lembaga layanan informasi cuaca nasional (National Weather Service) seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Lebih dari separuh penerbangan di O´Hare International Airport, Chicago, dibatalkan karena pasokan bahan bakar membeku, membuat awak tidak bisa mengisi tangki bahan bakar pesawat. Pada petang hari suhu Chicago minus 24 derajat Celcius.
Setidaknya empat kematian yang berhubungan dengan cuaca dingin dilaporkan, termasuk yang menimpa pria berusia 48 tahun di Chicago, yang mengakami serangan jantung saat membersihkan salju dan perempuan lanjut usia yang ditemukan dalam keadaan meninggal dunia di luar rumahnya di Indianapolis pada Minggu.
Di ladang-ladang minyak dari Texas sampai North Dakota dan Canada, udara dingin mencekam menghambat lalu lintas dan operasi pengeboran.
Cuaca dingin juga mengganggu pengapalan biji-bijian dan ternak di seluruh kawasan sabuk pertanian, menghambat produksi daging di beberapa pabrik pengemasan, dan berpotensi merusak tanaman gandum.
Di Cleveland, Ohio, yang suhunya minus 19 derajat Celcius dan diperkirakan akan turun menjadi minus 21 derajat Celcius dalam semalam, tempat-tempat singgah tuna wisme beroperasi penuh.
Pengurus rumah singgah mulai membuka fasilitas untuk membantu lebih dari 2.000 orang yang mencari tempat hangat.
"Akan ada juga orang yang tidak mau datang ke rumah singgah," kata Brian Davis, pengurus Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.
Padahal menurut para ahli cekaman dingin bisa terjadi dalam hitungan menit pada suhu yang demikian rendah.
National Weather Service mengeluarkan peringatan akan datangnya angin dingin yang bisa membahayakan keselamatan jiwa di bagian barat dan tengah North Dakota, dengan suhu serendah minus 51 derajat Celcius.
Sekitar 4.392 penerbangan dibatalkan dan 3.577 lainnya ditunda akibat cuaca buruk tersebut, demikian menurut FlightAware.com, yang melacak aktivitas penerbangan.
Chicago - A blast of Arctic air gripped the vast middle of the United States (US) on Monday, bringing the coldest temperatures felt in two decades, causing at least four deaths, forcing businesses and schools to close and cancelling thousands of flights.
Shelters for the homeless were overflowing and the weather threatened to briefly curtail some oil production in the severe cold described by some meteorologists as the "polar vortex" and dubbed by media as the "polar pig".
Temperatures were 11-22 deg C below average in parts of Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service.
More than half the flights at Chicago´s O´Hare International Airport were closed as fuel supplies froze, leaving crews unable to fill aircraft tanks. The afternoon temperature in Chicago was minus minus 24 deg C, making it colder than in areas of Antarctica, parts of which hovered around 0 deg C during the southern hemisphere summer.
At least four weather-related deaths were reported. In northwest Missouri, a one-year-old boy died on Monday when the vehicle he was riding in crashed into a snow plow on an icy highway, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
In Indianapolis, firefighters found the body of an elderly woman outside her home early on Monday.
In oil fields from Texas to North Dakota and Canada, the severe cold threatened to disrupt traffic, strand wells and interrupt drilling and fracking operations.
It also disrupted grain and livestock shipments throughout the farm belt, curbed meat production at several packing plants and threatened to damage the dormant wheat crop.
In Cleveland, Ohio, where the temperature was minus 19 deg C and was forecast to drop to minus minus 21 deg C overnight, homeless shelters were operating at full capacity. Shelter operators had begun to open overflow facilities to accommodate more than 2,000 people who had come seeking warmth.
"There are also going to be people that won´t go into the shelters," said Mr Brian Davis, an organizer with Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.
Frostbite can set in within minutes in such low temperatures, according to experts.
The National Weather Service issued warnings for life-threatening wind chills in western and central North Dakota, with temperatures as low as minus 51 deg C.
Some 4,392 flights were canceled and 3,577 delayed, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks airline activity.
