Winter storm Elliott – latest: Driving ban lifted in Buffalo as blizzard deaths hit 38

As icy weathers shutter transit facilities across the country, FedEx and UPS are warning that holiday packages may arrive late this week, CNBC reports.

“FedEx Express experienced substantial disruptions at our Memphis and Indianapolis hubs last night due to severe winter weather that has been moving across the United States,” FedEx said on Friday in a statement.

UPS added that the winter chaos disrupted operations “across several regions of the U.S. are impacting the UPS Air and Ground network, including UPS hubs in Louisville, Kentucky and Rockford, Illinois.”

Frozen rain smashed into parts of Washington state on Friday, as cold weather swept across much of the United States throughout the week.

Officials in the Puget Sound region have asked the public to stay off roads and delay non-essential travel, KOMO reports, while power lines weighed down with ice have begun to cause energy outages.

The frozen rain also temporarily delayed operations at Seattle’s SeaTac airport.

Migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border are one of the communities at particular risk of this week’s freezing temperatures.

Cities like El Paso are scrambling to open emergency shelters, though migrants say that shelters like the city’s 1,000-cot emergency facility are only open to those who have certain paperwork obtained by turning themselves in to the Border Patrol.

“We’re not permitted inside the shelter because we crossed without permission,” a Venezuelan migrant named Adda told NPR, who traveled to the US with her pregnant daughter.

“We went to ask if we could stay in the shelter because my daughter is pregnant,” Adda continued. “But they told us no, not without a permit.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has continued to argue that the crisis is because the Biden administration has sought to end Title 42, a Trump-era policy turning away most asylum-seekers on dubious pandemic grounds before they could enter the US, even though research shows the policy has done little to stop repeat crossings.

Extreme winter weather is blasting large parts of the United States, from Indiana to coastal New York

Here are some of the wildest videos of what’s been happening, including storm surge and 60pmh winds near Buffalo, New York, and an icy whiteout in Burns Harbor, Indiana.

Inclement weather is causing delays and long lines at airports across the country.

In Florida, as of noon, over 200 flights were delayed and 36 were canceled at Miami International Airport.

“We’ve been hearing a lot of flights have been canceled so we’re a little nervous about getting home,” traveler Galaxina Wright told CBS News.

Reporters in Detroit noted numerous delayed passengers there as well.

Warm weather is set on average to return by milder temperatures throughout next week in the Texas region, according to the National Weather Service.

The mercury could climb back to the 60s and 70s on average by next Thursday, the agency said.

Numerous flights have been delayed or canceled today because of scary winter weather.

All together, 8,425 US flights have been delayed and 5,125 have been canceled as of Friday evening, according to data-tracking site Flight Aware.

New York, especially upstate, is no stronger to big snowfalls, but this week’s weather has astounded local officials.

On Friday, governor Kathy Hochul warned residents about the “epic” weather that’s been heading their way.

“I called it a kitchen sink storm because it is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink,” she said, CNN reports. “We’ve had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures, and everything that mother nature could wallop at us this weekend.”

The death toll because of this week’s extreme weather continues to rise.

At least eight people have died because of the storm sweeping across the country, in states including Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin, NBC reports.

The fatalities were a combination of auto wrecks and people being exposed to the elements directly.

One person was killed and multiple others injured in a huge 50-vehicle crash in Ohio, according to officials.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says that the crash happened in the eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike in Sandusky County on Friday morning.

Officials say that buses were used to collect and take people from the scene of the accident to a nearby facility to keep them warm in freezing temperatures.

No details have been released on the cause of the crash or of the person killed in the accident.

But officials say that the initial crashes began at around 11.45am, with two people injured in a five-car crash.

Graeme Massie has the full story.