Arctic Blast Update: These Nine States are Battling Major Blackouts

Nine states across the U.S. are suffering from major power outages as cold weather sweeps across the country.

Freezing conditions have been recorded across North America, all the way down to Texas, with the Great Lakes region hit by blizzards and a bomb cyclone, which is created by a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure.

The Arctic weather has put America's energy grid under immense strain, with more than 1.25 million customers losing power along the east coast, according to analysis website poweroutage.us.

In total, nine states had more than 50,000 people left without power as of 10:55 a.m. ET on Saturday.

North Carolina and Tennessee are the two worst effected states, with 435,383 and 319,574 customers out of power respectively.

Maine was third worse hit, with 222,686 customers losing power, whilst another six states had between 50,000 and 100,000 customers cut off from electricity.

These were New Hampshire which saw 63,592 customers lose power, New York on 71,410, Virginia with 61,304, Kentucky on 55,026, and finally South Carolina and Georgia, with 79,678 and 56,328 respectively.

In addition Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas all recorded between 10,000 and 50,000 customers missing power.

PJM Interconnection, a Pennsylvania based company that supplies power to 65 million people, has asked its customers to conserve energy to help preserve the power supply.

When contacted the company directed Newsweek to a statement, which said: "PJM is asking consumers to reduce their use of electricity, if health permits, between the hours of 4 a.m. on December 24, 2022 and 10 a.m. on December 25, 2022.

"Demand for electricity is expected to increase in the PJM region and the regions neighboring PJM because of the extremely cold weather."

To reduce electricity usage PJM is suggesting customers turn down their thermostats "if health permits," avoid using "major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers" and turn off "non-essential electric lights, equipment and appliances."

The National Weather Service has warned Americans living across much of the eastern and central U.S. to expect "dangerously cold wind chills," over the next few days, that "will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers that become stranded."

The federal agency added: "In some areas, being outdoors could lead to frostbite in minutes."

According to tracking site FlightAware, 3,426 flights have been cancelled within, into or out of the U.S., causing travel misery for many trying to get together with their families.

Extreme meteorologist tweeted a video of a blizzard in Buffalo, New York, noting "you can't see anything" due to the constant snowfall.

On Friday at least eight American states were colder than the North Pole, according to data from the AccuWeather weather map.

These were Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin.