Extreme cold, snow and flooding hit parts of US

STORY: An Arctic blast from Canada caused temperatures to plummet across a vast swath of the country, from the Northwest into the Rust Belt, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) said in a Sunday bulletin.

In Iowa, a powerful blizzard pulled the brakes on the ever-churning political campaigning machine as Republicans vying for the 2024 presidential candidacy canceled events due to the inclement weather.

Chicagoans on Sunday (January 14) woke up to the sight of clouds of water vapour hovering over Lake Michigan, as dangerously freezing temperatures swept across much of the United States.

According to local media, citing the University of Maine, the scientific explanation behind the phenomenon is that water vapour is created when extremely cold air interacts with the relatively warmer water, forming fog.

Video footage captured on Saturday (January 13) showed debris being swept down a heavily flooded street in a resort town in York County, Maine, after a severe storm inundated several communities in the coastal region.