Epic winter storm turns deadly

Weather-related car crashes, exposure, and other incidents killed 18 people in the United States as of Saturday. In the Buffalo, N.Y., area, three people died from medical emergencies because ambulances could not get to them in white-out conditions. Four people died in a 50-car pileup on an Ohio turnpike. A bomb cyclone that formed over the Great Lakes region exacerbated a blast of Arctic air that reached from Canada down to the southern United States. A bomb cyclone happens when atmospheric pressure drops quickly in a strong storm.

How many people has the storm affected? About 60 percent of the U.S. population was under some sort of winter weather advisory in recent days, the National Weather Service said. That’s more than 200 million people. Across the country, nearly 500,000 homes and businesses were without power on Friday, according to Poweroutage.us. Airlines canceled more than 3,400 flights within, into, or out of the country, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

Dig deeper: Listen to Katie Gaultney’s review on The World and Everything in It podcast about a cozy read for a snow day.