More than a million US power customers were in the dark Friday as a "bomb cyclone" winter storm walloped the country, closing highways, grounding flights and causing misery for Christmas travelers.
Heavy snow, howling winds and air so frigid it instantly turned boiling water into ice took hold of much of the nation, including normally temperate southern states.
Over 200 million Americans were under weather warnings, as wind chills sent temperatures down as low as -55 Fahrenheit (-48 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
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