Sub-zero temperatures across all 50 states following historic early freeze

Five people have died due to the extreme weather in western New York.

15:37 20 November 2014

This week, all 50 states in the US have experienced sub-zero temperatures after a historic early freeze. The unseasonably harsh weather has been blamed for causing five deaths in western New York.

According to the US National Weather Service (NWS), areas in all 50 states fell below zero degrees Celsius – including the usually hot state of Hawaii where the temperature dipped below freezing at the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the archipelago’s Big Island, which rises 13,800ft above sea level.

Among the worst-hit areas was western New York whereby a state of emergency was declared across 10 counties. In part of Erie County and the city of Buffalo, at least 60 inches of snow fell.

One of the affected families had to deal with avalanche of snow from their roof that blew their door in.

“It was a huge crash. We all started running back there. We actually thought that it was the roof coming down in the house,” said Chrissy Gritzke Hazard. “We were definitely not expecting it to be the doors blown out, the frame, everything, inside the house.”