A boiling water challenge is going viral in the US as the winter ‘bomb cyclone’ covered two-thirds of the country with snow. Due to freezing temperatures, boiling water thrown in the air is instantly turning into snow. Also, several flights were cancelled, and highways remained closed as roads are filled with snow.

We created our own cloud @ -17° F (-27° C) at the #Missoula International Airport #mtwx

About 1.5 million people in the US were in the dark Friday as the winter storm walloped the country raising concerns.

Over 200 million people were put under weather warnings, as wind chills sent temperatures as low as -48 Celsius, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS).

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US winter storm: Heavy snowfall envelops cities, over 2000 flights cancelled

The transportation departments in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa and other states have reported near-zero visibility whiteouts and blizzard conditions. Residents have been urged to stay at home.

About 5,000 US flights were cancelled on Friday and another 7,600 flights were delayed, many of which were at international hubs in New York, Seattle and Chicago's O'Hare, as per the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Drivers have also been warned not to take to the roads even as the nation reached the busiest time of year for travel on Christmas.

The biting cold has affected the homeless in the US the most and several groups are going out to help those affected, NDTV reported.

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There has been rising concern over the condition of the desperate migrants in El Paso, Texas, who crossed over from Mexico and were found huddled together in churches, schools and other public spaces.

Even Canada’s Toronto witnessed waves of up to 26 feet (eight metres) in Lake Erie, the meteorologist Kelsey McEwen reported. The winds averaged 120 kilometres per hour in Ohio’s Fairport Harbor, as per a News18 report.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)