Cold wave

Cold waves are weather incidents that involve cooling of temperatures and air. Cold waves can cause death and injury for animals, people and livestock. Extreme winter cold causes freezing of water pipelines if they are poorly insulated. Motor vehicles often fail if the motor oil freezes or the antifreeze fails.

Examples of cold incidents in the United States are 1994, during January of which almost 70 percent of the country, along with southern Canada saw intense cold spells. The 2014 North American polar vortex created extremely cold temperatures across almost the whole United States and across Canada. The 2014 spell took close to two dozen human lives.