Deaths Storm-related deaths reached above 100 and occurred from diverse causes, including cold exposure outside or inside homes without heat or inside marooned cars, traffic accidents, falling trees or branches, electrocutions, carbon monoxide poisonings and a house fire caused by unsafe heating methods. Missouri had three deaths from vehicular collisions In Pennsylvania, a person died when trees and hydro poles fell onto their car. Four people died in other vehicular collisions, On December 28, the National Guard went door to door in parts of Buffalo to check on people who had been without electricity due to the blizzard. The 2022 storm was even deadlier than the
Blizzard of 1977 for the region. Two other people died within New York, including one from carbon monoxide poisoning in Lockport in eastern Niagara County. By December 22, Flight-aware reported that more than 10,000 flights had been delayed or canceled. By December 28, FlightAware.com reported that greater than 18,200 flights for between December 22 and 28 had to be canceled. Chicago's two airports canceled more than 820 flights by December 23 at 5 p.m. due to the poor weather. In Canada,
WestJet cancelled all flights (140) in
Ontario and
Quebec for December 23.
Air Canada canceled hundreds of flights across Canada on December 23 and 24. Two-thirds of arrivals and one-third of departures for
Toronto Pearson International Airport were canceled on December 23.
WestJet canceled 126 flights in
British Columbia. On December 25, 2022,
Southwest Airlines canceled 48% of its scheduled flights. The following day, December 26, Southwest canceled another 2,886 flights, which represented approximately 70% of its scheduled flights for that day. The
United States Department of Transportation called the cancellations "unacceptable" and said it would "closely examine" Southwest's actions. On December 28, it was announced Southwest Airlines had canceled more flights for an extended period as a result of damage to operational systems which occurred from the storm.
Road closures and crashes Road closures were prevalent during the storm. In
North Dakota, portions of
I-94,
U.S. 281,
U.S. 52 and
ND 46 were closed due to icy and near zero-visibility conditions. More than 100 vehicles were left struck in intense snow on I-90 between Rapid City and Wall in South Dakota prompting authorities to move in to rescue all of the motorists by transporting them to shelter. In
Minnesota, all of
Interstate 90 west of
Albert Lea closed. Portions of
I-435 closed in
Kansas City, Missouri, as well.
I-94 had multiple major crashes in western Michigan. In
Gallatin County, Kentucky,
I-71 was closed multiple times due to multiple crashes and icy conditions with some drivers stranded in traffic for up 34 hours. On
I-69 near
Fort Wayne, Indiana, a 12-vehicle pile-up, including a snow plow, blocked the highway on December 23, while smaller collisions also blocked
I-94 and
I-65 in Indiana. A 50-vehicle
pileup, including at least 15 commercial vehicles such as
semi-trailer trucks, occurred Friday afternoon on the eastbound
Ohio Turnpike in
Sandusky County, Ohio. Both directions of the turnpike were closed for the stretch between
SR 53 and
SR 4 until mid-afternoon Saturday while crews cleared the road. All major highways in western New York were closed for four to five days due to the blizzard. The morning of December 23, the city of
Niagara Falls, New York, issued a
travel ban with exceptions for essential travel.
Erie County, New York, which includes the city of
Buffalo, followed suit shortly afterwards. As of the morning of December 27, the travel ban remained in effect only for Buffalo. On December 27, state and military police were sent to Buffalo to enforce the driving ban to enable snow-clearing efforts to progress. The Erie County Sheriff indicated that over 420 EMS calls had gone unanswered because emergency vehicles were unable to travel through the deep snow. Buffalo announced a two-day effort for December 27 and 28 to clear at least one lane on every street in the city to accommodate emergency vehicles. Hundreds of vehicles, including tractor-trailer rigs and buses, were snowed in and abandoned all over the city; over 500 people were rescued from snowed-in cars, some having been trapped for up to two days. After more than five-and-a-half days in effect, the City of Buffalo lifted its driving ban at 12:01 a.m. December 29 on the basis that streets had been adequately cleared. In northern New York,
Jefferson County, which includes
Watertown, had a driving ban in effect from December 23 until December 25. In
New York City, part of the
Henry Hudson Parkway closed in
the Bronx. The
Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge was also closed down, and in southern
Long Island, parts of the
Meadowbrook State Parkway and
Wantagh State Parkway were shut down. In southwestern Ontario,
Highway 401 was closed December 23 between London and Tilbury, west of Chatham, due to about 100 vehicles, including numerous tractor trailers, being involved in multiple collisions, while
Highway 402 was closed between London and Sarnia because of a 50-vehicle pileup and deteriorating conditions. Early in the afternoon, the
Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) announced that all highways and roads in
Perth and
Huron counties were closed due to blizzard conditions While Highway 401 was reopened in the early evening of December 24, Highway 402 and all roads in Perth, Huron, Bruce, Grey, and Dufferin counties remained closed the evening of December 24. All bridges between the Niagara Region of Canada and the
Niagara Falls/Buffalo area of New York State were closed at 4:30 p.m. on December 23 due to county-wide travel bans in western New York. The
QEW in southern Niagara Region was closed from December 23 to 25 due to heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions.
Highway 417 between Ottawa and the Ontario-Quebec border was closed from 11 a.m. December 24 until 9 a.m. December 25 while Highway 401 between Quinte West and the Ontario-Quebec border was closed from the morning of December 24 until 10 a.m. December 25. In central Ontario,
Highway 11 was closed from Orillia to Huntsville beginning on December 24. On Christmas Eve in
British Columbia, icy road conditions resulted in a bus rolling over and crashing on
Highway 97C between
Kelowna and
Merritt due to icy roads following another storm, killing four people and injuring 36.
Intra-city transit disruptions In the Chicago area, the extreme cold and storm conditions caused transit disruptions, including service suspension on the South Shore for the afternoon on December 23 and on December 24, with both the
CTA and
Metra reporting issues with freezing track switches and mechanical failures. In the Buffalo-Niagara area, all transit service was suspended from the morning of December 23 until the morning of December 27, at which time reduced Metro Rail Service—trains departing every 30 minutes—was restarted; bus service was resumed on some routes the morning of December 28. In the
New York Metropolitan Area, trains experienced delays due to flooding. The
Long Beach Branch of the
Long Island Rail Road was shut down in both directions between
Penn Station and
Long Beach due to flash flooding, and the Metro North Hudson line was temporarily suspended between
Poughkeepsie and
Peekskill because of flooding as well. The
New Jersey Transit experienced up to 30-minute delays. The
Staten Island Ferry was suspended for around an hour. All buses in
Queens were delayed, with the
Q53-SBS being totally suspended. In Ontario, GO Transit (servicing the Greater Golden Horseshoe around Toronto) implemented its snow plan on December 23, which reduced peak train service and suspended express trains, and canceled some buses in the Niagara Region, where winds of 100 km/h were anticipated. The
Toronto Transit Commission suspended service at 41 bus stops at hilly locations and suspended service on
Line 3 Scarborough of the
Toronto subway for December 23. In the
Seattle area, a separate storm resulted in all buses operated by
King County Metro and
Sound Transit being canceled due to icy road conditions. The
Seattle Center Monorail was also suspended.
BC Transit suspended all bus service to
Victoria for the day.
Inter-city train delays and cancellations Numerous
Amtrak trains were delayed, ran on modified schedules, or were canceled entirely between December 22 and 24, due to the storm. Canada's
VIA Rail experienced weather-related issues with nine trains in the
Quebec City–Windsor Corridor being delayed on December 23 and 24 due to trees and branches falling on the tracks or on the trains themselves; passengers on some trains were stranded near
Cobourg for more than 18 hours. In the afternoon of December 24, a freight train derailed forcing VIA to cancel all trains between Toronto and Ottawa or Montreal for that day, December 25 and 26.
Energy emergencies The
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared an emergency covering 44 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., on December 22, suspending statutory driving time limits and other regulatory restrictions.
Colorado,
Iowa,
North Carolina,
South Dakota, and
Wisconsin all made similar declarations on a state level.
Power outages On December 23, PowerOutage.us reported that nearly 1.5 million customers were without power. Of those power outages,
Maine recorded over 250,000 customers without power,
North Carolina over 180,000, and more than 100,000 in
Virginia,
Tennessee, and New York each. High load caused the
Tennessee Valley Authority in the southeastern U.S. to announce several hours of
rolling blackouts throughout much of their service area. Duke Energy followed suit because of cold temperatures on December 24. The Buffalo-Niagara Falls area had 108,000 customers without power at different times during the storm. In total, over the course of the storm, 6.3 million households across the U.S. were without power at some point. In Ontario, 430,000 households were without power at different points in time during the storm. The Sabres' road game against the
Columbus Blue Jackets on December 27 was also postponed as the Buffalo area's travel ban remained in effect and the Buffalo airport remained closed. The
National Football League postponed kickoff for a game between the
Tennessee Titans and
Houston Texans for an hour because of the rolling blackouts in the area.
Corporate and institutional closures Food processor
Tyson Foods suspended operations at some of its plants as a result of the storm. Many delivery services, including
Amazon,
FedEx,
UPS, and
USPS, had major delays at hubs or closures of processing sites due to weather conditions. In Southern Ontario, most school boards, including those as far east as Ottawa, closed schools for December 23. In
Vaughan, Ontario,
Canada's Wonderland closed WinterFest on December 23 due to the storm. Many national parks in the United States closed due to the winter storm. These included, but are not limited to, the
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in
North Dakota,
Badlands National Park in
South Dakota,
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in
Virginia, and
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in
North Carolina. However,
Big Bend National Park remained open, despite wind chills predicted to sink as low as . In Pigeon Forge,
Tennessee,
Dollywood was closed on December 23, 24 and 25 due to the wind chill being below zero. The park opened on December 26 at 1:00 p.m., two hours later than the scheduled opening time, but closed three hours early at 6:00 p.m. due to snow and ice. The park was closed again on December 27.
Animals In
Houston, Texas, about 1,600 roosting bats lost their grip due to
hypothermia and fell to the ground. They were saved by animal activists who administered fluids and kept them warm in incubators. Once recovered, the bats were released back to their
habitats—two Houston-area bridges. == Post-storm cold wave ==