Brutal winter weather sweeping across the U.S. is expected to impact voter turnout at the Iowa Republican caucuses as several areas of the nation experience deathly low temperatures.
With the official beginning of the Republican presidential primary season to kick-off on Monday, candidates have been scrambling to make their final appearances ahead of what is predicted to be the coldest Iowa caucus night ever.
“If someone is extremely lucky, they might get to zero,” said Allan Curtis, a Des Moines-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Des Moines, telling the New York Times what the best-case scenario would be for Monday.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s going to be a bitter one,” he added.
The previous coldest caucus was in 2004, when the high temperature across the caucus locations was 16 degrees. Now, the NWS predicts that Des Moines, Iowa’s most populated city, will face a high of minus four degrees.
Republican candidates Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley have all had to cancel campaign events in Iowa as weather worsened over the past week, with political newcomer Ramaswamy even getting his car stuck in a snowy ditch on the way to the state capital.
Trump’s campaign canceled three of four campaign events on Friday, then released a video vowing to make it to the snowy caucuses at least by Sunday.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a trek… nobody knows how exactly we’re going to get there, but we’re going to figure it out,” Trump said. “We wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
With the former president finally getting to the city of Indianola on Sunday, supporters began lining up in -17 degree weather to wait for “hours” to see him, according to pro-Trump commentator Laura Loomer.
“The Trump campaign is taking care of people in the cold by placing warming [buses] outside for anyone who needs to warm up,” she wrote on X. “These Iowa voters in line are willingly standing outside because they are excited to Caucus for Trump!”
The weather is hitting many other regions across the U.S., with outlets reporting that temperatures could drop to as low as -50 degrees. These “deadly” conditions will bring hazardous wind, snow, and ice from coast to coast, according to the Daily Mail.
At least five deaths due to storm-related issues have already been reported, the outlet noted.
Weather alerts have taken effect across the country, with 1,371 U.S. flights canceled Saturday, 1,051 so far on Sunday as of 1:00 p.m., and 716 Monday flights already canceled ahead of the primary kick-off according to FlightAware tracking.
The Midwest is experiencing sub-zero temperatures and more than a foot of snowfall in some places, leaving tens of thousands of people in Michigan and Wisconsin without power heading into the icy weekend.
In the Northeast region, winter storms are predicted to hit Washington, DC, Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York City as the new week begins.
Upstate New York was pummeled by a “lightning and thunder snow” on Saturday night, with videos from Hamburg, just outside of Buffalo, showing residents struggling in the cold.
Accuweather multimedia journalist Bill Wadell reported that a travel ban had been put into place for the area to reduce the risk of injuries or death due to the dangerous weather.
Major storms brought flooding through New Hampshire, with seafoam covering many coastal areas including Hampton Beach.
Residents of Portland, Maine, were relegated to rowboats after massive flooding raised the water by several feet, covering some of the roadways.
Senior Accuweather Meteorologist Matt Benz told the Daily Mail, “For much of the country, this will end up being the coldest and most persistent outbreak of Arctic air in a couple of winters.”
Through the South, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Tennessee have also gotten snow, sleet, and freezing rain.
Texas is due to get uncharacteristically low temperatures, with the Daily Mail saying wind chills could drop to -25 degrees, citing NWS data.
“As winter weather moves across our state, Texans are urged to take precautions to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their homes,” Gov. Greg Abbott said on X, after announcing that the State Operations Center “is open 24/7 to prepare for incoming winter weather.”
“On the West Coast, Washington State and Oregon are experiencing similar conditions,” the Daily Mail reported. “Roads are slicked with ice and sleet, and the arrival of Saturday’s storm brought high winds that led to downed trees.”
Fox12 meteorologist Katie Zuniga warned of the dangerous hazards, saying that she couldn’t make it to a location in the Oregonian city of Lake Oswego due to downed trees.
Meanwhile, Washington state’s largest energy utility, Puget Sound Energy, asked residents on Sunday to “conserve natural gas and electricity today, and especially as we go into the evening hours when demand on the system is highest.”
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