Dozens Dead as Powerful Winter Storm Sends Temperatures Plummeting Across North America

Gamaliel Vega tries to dig out his car on Lafayette Avenue after he got stuck in a snowdrift about a block from home while trying to help rescue his cousin, who had lost power and heat with a baby at home across town during a blizzard in Buffalo, N.Y., on Dec. 24, 2022. Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP

At least 38 people have died, and hundreds of thousands have been left without power in the wake of a massive pre-Christmas winter storm that swept across the United States and parts of Canada, bringing with it blizzards, flash flooding, and subfreezing temperatures.

The “once-in-a-generation” storm was created by a “bomb cyclone,“ according to forecasters, which refers to the central pressure of a low-pressure system dropping at least 24 millibars within 24 hours; meaning that a storm is intensifying quickly.