“It’s dangerous and dangerous, it’s really very severe weather and it goes from Oklahoma to Wyoming and Maine. … So I encourage everyone to heed local warnings,” Biden said in the Oval Office.
“If you all have travel plans, leave now, no kidding. I’m sending my staff… If they have plans to leave tomorrow, I’m telling them to leave now.”
A massive storm system is expected to bring blizzards to the Great Lakes region, up to 2 inches (5 cm) of rain followed by a flash freeze on the East Coast, and wind gusts of up to 60 miles (100 km) per hour and bitter rain in southern Mexico. Cool to the limit.
Biden, who plans to be in Washington for the Christmas holiday on Sunday, said he would be briefed later by FEMA and the National Weather Service.
He said the White House has already spoken to 26 state governors in the affected areas. “It’s not like the snow day you had when you were a kid, it’s serious,” Biden said.