The United States was suddenly hit by a snowstorm! Logistics were delayed and freight rates increased

Every winter, the United States experiences blizzards, and this year is no exception. Recently, there are reports that a blizzard is raging in the United States. In addition to strong winds and heavy snow, extreme weather such as mountain torrents, hail, freezing rain and tornadoes are also coming one after another. For cross-border e-commerce sellers, the bad weather in the United States still has a great impact on them, mainly reflected in the delay in the delivery time of goods.

A powerful storm spawned tornadoes across the southern United States last Friday and brought heavy snow and other extreme weather to parts of the United States and Canada.

Experts say the extreme weather is expected to continue through much of the week as it pushes eastward into the central U.S. Plains on Thursday.

Currently, four states - Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota - have received blizzard warnings, and severe storms are expected along the Gulf Coast, including parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Tornado warnings were issued for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. On Tuesday, at least 18 tornadoes struck Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi , with Louisiana entering a state of emergency.

Due to the extreme weather, some highways in the United States were closed and flights were delayed on a large scale. FlightAware.com, the world's largest flight tracking data website, said that due to the raging snowstorm, about 9,000 flights were delayed and hundreds of flights were canceled on Monday and Tuesday alone.

The storm also spread into Canada, bringing heavy snow and high winds to the country's southern prairie regions, including Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Freezing rain and other wintry weather was expected across the Upper Midwest and Northeast on Thursday , the National Weather Service said .

Extreme weather has a huge impact on logistics. According to feedback from some logistics companies, although the areas affected by the snowstorm can arrange the delivery of goods normally, the delivery time will be delayed, with Colorado and Nebraska being the most affected. Some logistics companies even said that the last leg of the delivery is no longer possible.

In addition, with flight delays and cancellations, air freight prices will also fluctuate. A logistics company said that due to the large-scale suspension of flights, air delivery and express delivery prices will increase, and there will also be problems with the delivery time after the goods arrive at the airport. "In general, the price will not change too much, but the delivery time will indeed be unstable. The biggest impact is now in the East Coast of the United States, the US-China region is relatively better, and the West Coast of the United States is not affected much. "

However, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. Extreme weather will also lead to an increase in sales of some products. For example, snow shovels and other snow removal equipment, as well as emergency supplies such as flashlights and whistles, are all used in such weather conditions or need to be prepared.

In addition, according to the list of emergency supplies listed by the US media, there are also batteries, dust masks, plastic sheets and tape, wrenches or pliers, manual can openers, maps, sleeping bags and blankets , etc.  

Snowstorm in the United States