number one spot for a fifth time, giving them more christmas number ones than the beatles. hello and welcome to bbc news. more than a hundred million people in america, are under extreme weather alerts, and more than one and a half million people have no power, as temperatures in some areas are predicted to drop, to as low as minus 45 celsius. an arctic storm is approaching, predicted to hit canada and extend down to the deep south and the border with mexico, including texas. this thermal satellite imagery shows the huge spread of the coldest areas, with the mid west enduring the lowest temperatures. the chill is also being felt on the gulf coastline, although areas in the far north east, like maine, and western states like california, nevada and arizona are escaping the this satellite image, from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, gives an idea of the spread of the cold weather system, with the lowest temperatures underneath the clouds at the top of the pic
just yesterday we only had about three states in the whole lower a8 that were not being affected so this has wide reaching storm with arctic temperatures reaching all the way to the gulf coast states bringing temperatures that they have never seen before. it is re have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. - have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. it - have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. it has been described as once in a generation, is that a statement you would agree with?- generation, is that a statement you would agree with? there are some that you would agree with? there are some that have you would agree with? there are some that have not you would agree with? there are some that have not seen - you would agree with? there are some that have not seen this - you would agree with? there are some that have not seen this in l some that have not seen this in 30 years, absolutely stopping at don t know if you can see this behind me but you nee
the roads are being covered up again with snowfall. so we are seeing this arctic blast covering most of the united states, from the rockies all the way to the east coastlines. in fact, earlier, just yesterday, we only had about three states in the whole lower a8 that were not being affected. so this has been a wide reaching storm, with arctic temperatures reaching all the way to the gulf coast states bringing temperatures that they have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. it has been described as once in a generation, is that a statement you would agree with? there are some that have not seen this in 30 years, absolutely. i don t know if you can see this behind me, but you need to see some of the numbers here. it s notjust how much the temperatures are falling, it s how fast. we ve seen a drop of 37 degrees in only an hour, and that is fahrenheit, in denver, 30 degrees in one hour in texas and one of the ones that has just been absolutely mind blowing, dropping from a3 fahre