Arctic blast sees frozen bats fall from bridge as U.S. temperatures plunge

At least 130 bats have been rescued in Houston, Texas, after falling from a bridge when they became frozen due to the current inclement weather, according to local reports.

Much of the United States is in the grip of a winter storm, which has seen freezing air blown across the country from the Arctic.

The Great Lakes region has been hit by a bomb cyclone, caused by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, with temperatures forecast for the low teens on Saturday, though it is expected to feel significantly colder once wind chill is factored in.

On Friday the temperature at Elk Park, Montana, dropped to -50 F, while Cattaraugus County, New York, recorded a low of -36 F.

The day saw at least eight U.S. states record temperatures as cold as or colder than the North Pole, according to AccuWeather data.

Large parts of the eastern and central U.S. face “dangerously cold wind chills” on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

For these areas the federal agency warned: “The life-threatening cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers that become stranded, individuals that work outside, livestock and domestic pets.”

The NWS added “being outdoors could lead to frostbite in minutes,” for the worst-affected areas, and said anyone traveling should “prepare for extreme cold” and “pack winter safety kits in your vehicles.”

At least 950,000 customers were without power across the U.S.. most in the east and northeast, as of 7:45 a.m. ET Saturday, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us. At least 5,900 flights were canceled nationwide on Friday. At least 1,550 were canceled Saturday at time of writing, according to tracking site FlightAware.

Freezing conditions have extended as far south as Texas, where, on Friday, officials from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the state’s electricity grid, asked the Department of Energy for permission to bypass some emissions protocols, due to surging demand.

There are concerns for the Texas power grid, which suffered a massive failure during freezing conditions in February 2021 after three severe winter storms and frigid temperatures stressed the grid

Speaking to the Houston Chronicle, Mary Warwick, wildlife director at the Houston Humane Society, described how she collected dozens of Mexican free-tailed bats from the ground, which had fallen from Waugh Street Bridge after freezing, on Thursday.

She said: “There were hundreds of bats, I don’t know exactly how many, but lots of them laying on the ground. So I went and got a bag out of my car and started collecting them up, put them in a plastic bin in my car on a heated seat and then headed home with them.”

Warwick said most of the bats had looked dead, but they started moving around after being warmed up in her car.

She continued: “I’m in the process of triaging them and putting them in incubators and that kind of thing.

“Once they warm up, I’ll give them each some fluids and tomorrow I’ll probably start them on mealworms.”