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Highways Close, Chaos Continues Amid Massive Winter Storm While Sudden Heat Wave Strikes The South

(Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP) (Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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A nation-wide winter storm continued to wreak havoc Wednesday night into Thursday as a sudden heat wave struck down south.

It appears every state in the U.S. is dealing with its own sudden, strange winter weather. California, much of which has a typically temperate desert climate, continues to deal with higher than usual rainfall rates, the National Weather Service (NWS) wrote Wednesday. Los Angeles received its first blizzard warning in some 30 years, with local meteorologists stunned by the occurrence, the BBC reported.

“I have to be totally honest with you guys,” meteorologist Evelyn Taft told her local station. “I’ve actually never seen a blizzard warning.”

As much as five feet of snow could fall throughout the mountainous regions.

“Not a typo,” meteorologist Paul Deanno told his Twitter followers, sharing a graphic from NWS Los Angeles. The storm has been dubbed Winter Storm Olive by the Weather Channel.

Highways in Arizona were shut Wednesday due to extreme snow effects, with the state’s Department of Transportation “strongly” advising residents against any form of travel throughout the duration of the storm.

Further north, heavy snow, cold, blizzards, ice storms and more dangerously cold weather is expected to continue. “Dangerously low wind chills” are anticipated to coat the northern U.S. through the rest of the week, with the NWS telling residents to only venture outdoors if they absolutely have to and to dress in layers to reduce risks of hypothermia and frostbite.

Stunning videos of frozen trees and chaotic road conditions were shared from seemingly every northern state, including in parts of Wyoming and major cities like Detroit. The big freeze forced more than 1,700 flights to be cancelled and some 6,400 to be delayed, with disruptions expected to continue through Thursday, CNN reported.

In stark contrast to the bitter freeze, parts of Texas are under a high fire danger alert, NWS noted. McAllen, Texas, reported a high temperature reading of 95 degrees, while parts of Washington D.C., could hit as high as 80 on Thursday, the BBC noted in another report.

“All winter, we’ve seen this persistent pattern, where the western US is seeing below-average temperatures and the eastern US is seeing above-average temperatures,” Columbia University climate scientist Andrew Kruczkiewicz told the outlet. (RELATED: Check Out The National Weather Service’s Amazing Word Gymnastics Over California Drought Questions)

While showers developing over the southeast should cool things off in parts of North Carolina, record-breaking temperatures are still anticipated for much of the region and south.

No matter where a person lives in the U.S., it’s advised to not leave the home without checking the weather report and preparing accordingly.