Dozens confirmed dead as extreme cold continues to grip large part of U.S.
Dozens of people across multiple states have been confirmed dead after a powerful winter storm swept through large parts of the country, leaving a trail of damage and extreme cold lingering in its wake.
As of Sunday, CBS News has confirmed at least 100 deaths directly caused by storm conditions or weather-related accidents, with officials in numerous states reporting about two dozen additional deaths that appear to be related to the winter weather.
Hypothermia from exposure to the cold, car accidents, snowplow accidents, sledding accidents and sudden cardiac emergencies linked to shoveling snow were among the causes of death reported so far. New York City officials say 14 people have been found dead in the cold there, though not all of their causes of death had been confirmed yet.
The winter storm swept across two-thirds of the United States from Jan. 23-26, affecting some 200 million people with a mixture of heavy snow, rain, sleet and freezing temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.
Frigid conditions have persisted, with cold air gripping the eastern half of the country and continuing to drive temperatures far below normal, CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said.
The weather service warned that this "could be the longest duration of cold in several decades."
Extreme cold alerts remained in effect across parts of the eastern U.S. as another winter storm closed in.
Ongoing power outages
Hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power for days after the weekend's snowstorm. As of Saturday, the total had declined to about 191,000, primarily in southern and southeastern states, according to the tracking site .
In the wake of the storn, outages were most widespread in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, with some outages also reported in Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
New snowstorm possible
Meteorologists have also warned of another Arctic blast headed southward into the U.S. that was expected to arrive by the weekend, potentially bringing with it a string of record low temperatures. Pockets of the Northeast should prepare for more snow, as cold air moving across the Great Lakes fuels some downwind snowfall off Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Lake effect snow warnings were in effect through Thursday night in portions of upstate and western New York, including in cities such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown and Rochester, which could see 1 to 2 feet of snow or more, according to the National Weather Service.
Massachusetts residents were also bracing for what meteorologists have described as a potential "bomb cyclone" over the upcoming weekend, CBS Boston reported, although the forecast for that possible storm remained uncertain at mid-week. A bomb cyclone is a rapidly strengthening storm system, and meteorologists said this one could bring snow, wind and offshore wave heights similar to a hurricane.
