A strengthening bomb cyclone is barreling across the northern United States, unleashing severe winter weather in the Midwest and aiming at the East Coast. The storm brought blizzard conditions, treacherous travel and widespread power outages Monday across the Plains and Great Lakes. Forecasters say the storm intensified rapidly, meeting the criteria of what's known as a bomb cyclone. The sharp cold front left parts of the central U.S. waking up to temperatures 50 degrees colder than the day before. The National Weather Service had warned of whiteout conditions beginning Sunday that could make travel impossible in some areas.

Work crews are mopping up but bracing for more after hurricane-force wind downed power lines and fanned wildfires along the Colorado Front Range and onto the Great Plains. Wind that in places topped 100 mph arrived late Wednesday after Xcel Energy protectively cut off power through much of its eastern Colorado service areas. The goal was to prevent downed lines from starting fires. By Thursday afternoon, power was 60% restored but more strong wind and power outages are expected Friday. Wind-driven wildfires burned some 14,000 acres in eastern Colorado late Wednesday. Strong wind meanwhile closed a section of I-70 in western Kansas on Thursday.

A blackout has hit the western half of Cuba, including Havana, leaving millions of people without power on an island struggling with chronic outages blamed on a crumbling electric grid. Lázaro Guerra, general director of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said the massive outage on Wednesday was caused by a failure on a transmission line that connects two major plants. He said later Wednesday that the power grid was operational but electricity would be restored gradually. The outage follows two days of peak-hour power shortages across the island that exceeded 55% of the country’s energy deficit. A total blackout hit Cuba in September, with officials blaming aging infrastructure and fuel shortages at power plants.