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The winter storm sweeping the U.S. is making history, as Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is recording its first blizzard in over four decades. The winter storm sweeping the U.S. is expected to continue to bring what the National Weather Service (NWS) describes as “widespread disruptions to large portions of the nation heading into the holiday weekend.” And indeed, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern, over 3,600 U.S. flights had been cancelled and 2,600 more were delayed on Friday alone.

The arctic blast rocking the country is expected to reach its highest intensity on Friday, producing what the National Weather Service (NWS) is describing as “widespread disruptions” heading into the holiday weekend as over half the U.S. population finds itself under a winter storm warning, watch, or advisory. The blizzard, dubbed Winter Storm Elliott, has triggered dramatic temperature drops across the U.S., with some cities seeing temperatures plummet 40 degrees in less than an hour, smashing records.

A substantial flip-flop in the weather pattern will allow a major storm to unfold smack dab in the middle of the United States this weekend and persist into early next week. The storm's variety of adverse weather conditions could lead to a multitude of travel problems and will pose some risk to lives and property from the Rockies to the Great Plains ... on the storm's northwestern flank, the combination of plunging temperatures, heavy snow and gusty winds may produce localized blizzard conditions. .... In the zone from northeastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas to southeastern Colorado, frequent gusts will...

Overwatch 2's launch on Tuesday has so far been less of a launch and more of a line: thousands of players, including a few at PC Gamer, have been stuck in a lengthy login queue(opens in new tab), only to run into a connection error after making it to the menu. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra tweeted(opens in new tab) this afternoon that this isn't just the result of too many players trying to get in—Overwatch 2 is currently suffering a DDoS attack. Distributed denial-of-service attacks direct large amounts of internet traffic to specific servers, overwhelming them with more connections than...

White on White PrivilegeIt used to be that Americans, who were free to disagree on everything, had one safe space where they could speak civilly to each other. No more; we can’t even agree on the weather because SCIENCE! Or something sort of like science. Take this weekend’s storm in New England:CNBC - Climate change, particularly the warming ocean, probably influenced the strength of the storm, atmospheric researchers said.Much warmer ocean waters “are certainly playing a role in the strengthening of the storm system and increased moisture available for the storm,” said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado…[before whispering...

John Campopiano's alter ego has been a staple of the winter season since he first decided to don a yeti costume and go walking around in the snow seven years agoWe catch up with the Boston Yeti to talk about being a Boston winter legend, his children’s book plans and if we will see an official Yeti sidekick out there in the future. Boston residents know that a local legend makes their way out in the elements when the snow starts falling. And a blizzard means you might just see the beloved Boston Yeti on the prowl. John Campopiano, aka...

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency Friday in light of the winter storm expected to pummel the Eastern Seaboard with snow throughout the weekend's start. The order will take effect at 5 p.m. Friday and includes a commercial vehicle travel ban. Murphy urged all residents to stay off the roads if possible. "We expect low visibility and tough travel conditions," Murphy said at the Friday morning press conference. "So, let’s leave the roads empty for crews to do their jobs."

A powerful nor'easter moving toward Boston could bring snowfall totals high enough to break previous January records, with more than 2 feet of accumulation possible. The largest snowfall in January in Boston took place back in 2015, when we had 24.6 inches of snow; the largest snowfall ever in the city was President's Day weekend 2003, with 27.6 inches of snow. Those records may still be standing Saturday evening, but there's also a chance they are both broken. Greater Boston will likely see between 18 and 28 inches, and some pockets could even see more than 30 inches where the...

How close would a solar and wind-dependent power grid have come to giving us the electricity we needed during the three-week freeze in Alberta where the average temperature was -22 C from Dec. 15 to Jan. 9?... Alberta needs a supply of about 10,500 MW (megawatts) on average, said Mackay. If they are running at maximum capacity, solar can provide 736 MW and wind 2,269 MW.... If we had been reliant on far more solar and wind, how would we have done? “You’d have to start with rolling blackouts or brownouts,” Mackay said. “If we lost the bulk of our...

A Florida man was charged Thursday with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Canada near the U.S. border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said Steve Shand, 47, has been charged with human smuggling after seven Indian nationals were found in the U.S. and the discovery of the bodies. Court documents filed Wednesday in support of Shand’s arrest allege one of the people spent a significant amount of money to come to...

Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard, the developer behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, for $68.7 billion. This deal, which is the most expensive acquisition in Microsoft’s history, will make Microsoft the third-largest game company by revenue behind Tencent and Sony. But more importantly, it will kick off Microsoft’s venture into the metaverse.

Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard, the publisher and associated developer of many titles including the Call of Duty franchise. Announced today on an Xbox Wire post, Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard, which includes the development teams at Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch. Microsoft's purchase is set to cost $68.7 billion. Microsoft has stated that Activision Blizzard will operate independently until the deal is complete, but Phil Spencer does note that once the deal is complete...

The Omicron COVID-19 variant is about to infect millions of Americans in a “viral blizzard” of cases, a leading expert has warned. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota, highlighted data from the Big Apple as proof that “outbreaks are starting to occur” from the worrying new variant. “I think we’re really just about to experience a viral blizzard,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday. “In the next three to eight weeks, we’re going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus,” he said, citing...

That headline is correct, there is a blizzard warning out for parts of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Of course, most visitors to the park on the Big Island won't have to bundle up unless they're planning to scale Mauna Loa, and that's not being advised. According to the National Weather Service, Mauna Loa's summits can experience winds of 100 mph this weekend along with 12 or more inches of snow. "Blowing snow will significantly reduce visibility at times, with periods of zero visibility," the agency said. "The strong winds will likely cause significant drifting of snow." At the park, officials...

Dozens of customers who stopped for a drink at Britain’s highest altitude pub got a longer stay than they bargained for, after the building was cut off by a blizzard. Sixty-one people woke up Monday after their third night at the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales, 270 miles (435 kilometers) north of London. They have been unable to leave since Friday, when a late autumn storm brought snow and heavy winds that felled power cables and blocked roads. The pub sits 1,732 feet (528 meters) above sea level and is used to being cut off by bad weather....

Millions of people living in the Midwestern region of the U.S. received their first blizzard warnings of the season on Thursday, NBC News reported. Parts of northeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota were issued blizzard warnings on Thursday. Both areas are part of “Blizzard Alley,” according to NBC News. November blizzards are a rarity; the last time there was a blizzard warning in November was in 2016 in South Dakota, NBC News noted.

In Western universities and board rooms, souls are cheap. But Jimmy Lai's is not.In Hong Kong right now, Jimmy Lai is sacrificing all — his fortune and possibly his life — for his God, his fellow man, and for freedom.Lai is a billionaire, although he wasn’t always one. Born two years before the Communists defeated the nationalists in China’s civil war, his father fled and his mother was sent to a labor camp when he was a young child. Carrying bags for train passengers and getting by as a street vendor, he first tasted freedom when a man from British...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Many, if they were alive 40 years ago this week, can remember exactly where they were and what they saw between Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, 1978. The most devastating winter storm to ever hit Ohio moved in during the early hours of Jan. 26 and battered the state for three days, breaking records and wreaking havoc on the roads, on homes and even in the skies. “If you lived through it, you might remember the huge snowdrifts,” said Fox 8 Meteorologist Scott Sabol. “We haven’t had wind chills like that since.” On Jan. 25, it was...

This is when all this covid sh!t started.

For all of you in the path of this week’s Nor’Easter and still digging out, allow me to offer an alternative to ongoing snow removal: Follow the panda’s lead and do your best to enjoy it.Let them give you a little boost and maybe we’ll all make it over hump-day. Just hang in there a bit longerand it will soon be spring. Maybe we’ll be able to get together with our friends and family again without social distancing, perhaps even go out for a meal as a group again.Which will of course still be dangerous, as this panda-emic is here...