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At least six dead as bitter cold winds follows snow in eastern United States

At least six people have died as bitter cold winds and freezing temperatures swept across parts of the United States after heavy snowfall during the weekend.

The National Weather Service forecasted wind gusts up to 30mph and wind chills approaching -40C in northern New York state and Vermont.

On the north east’s highest mountain, the temperature fell to minus 35C on Monday afternoon, according to Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire. It said wind chills were hovering at around minus 62C.

In New York state, Coast Guard crews moved quickly to rescue a 21-year-old man who was left stranded on an island in the Navensink River after his small boat broke down.

The Coast Guard said crews arrived just over half an hour after the call came in, and two members waded through 1C water to take the man to safety. The air temperature was -14C with 30mph wind.

"Cold water and below freezing temperatures can complicate rescues like this and turn a bad situation to worse very fast," said Commander Rich Sansone, search and rescue co-ordinator for Coast Guard Sector New York.

The weather contributed to multiple deaths over the long Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend.

An employee in Forest City, Pennsylvania, clears away ice and snow in a frozen parking lot (AP)
An employee in Forest City, Pennsylvania, clears away ice and snow in a frozen parking lot (AP)

In suburban Chicago, the temperature was about -10C on Sunday when a 12-year-old girl died after a snow fort collapsed on her.

Police in Arlington Heights, Illinois, said Esther Jung had been playing with another girl outside Rothem Church. Their families began looking for them about an hour later and found them under the snow. The younger girl survived.

Bitter cold weather continues to batter Chicago (AP)
Bitter cold weather continues to batter Chicago (AP)

In Connecticut, a utility company subcontractor died on Sunday after being struck by a falling tree while working on a power line in Middletown.

More than 10,000 homes and businesses in the state remained without power on Monday afternoon, down from a high of more than 25,000 outages on Sunday as temperatures dropped below zero in some locations.

"This is a reminder of the danger these men and women face on our behalf," Governor Ned Lamont said in a tweet.

"While many are still out there working today, please join me in acknowledging them and sending our thoughts to this person's family."

In Kansas, a snowplough driver was killed when the plough drove on to the shoulder of a road and rolled over, throwing him under the vehicle. It was not clear why the driver had moved to the shoulder from the roadway.

In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said a 59-year-old man and a 91-year-old man collapsed and died on Sunday in separate incidents after removing snow.

A man in charge of transportation at a south-western Michigan school district also died while shovelling snow. Officials said Mike Westbrook died on Saturday from a heart attack.

Traffic backed up at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, west of Salt Lake City (AP)
Traffic backed up at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, west of Salt Lake City (AP)

While FlightAware reported about 480 cancelled flights on Monday, that was a fraction of the more than 1,600 that were cancelled the previous day.

After a few weather-related delays on Sunday, Amtrak restored all scheduled service on Monday.

Another storm is already developing over the Rockies that could blanket the same region with more snow by the end of the week.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for parts of Colorado for Monday night, and winter storm warnings for south-east Wyoming, western Nebraska and Utah.