The winter of 2016-2017 was a particularly cold winter in the United States which occurred in 2016 to 2017.
History[]
In November 2016, the northern U.S. states were hit hard by a cold wave. Coupled with a worsening economic recession and rolling brownouts, many homes in the affected states were unable to maintain heat and causing many residents to die from hypothermia.[1] As a result, hundreds of thousands of starving and freezing Americans fled the north and migrated for the southern, warmer states. However, the southern states were unable to support the huge influx of refugees. States such as California, Texas, and Florida enacted strict interstate immigration laws to curb the influx of homeless northerners in which the National Guard were used to enforce the state borders.[2] Some incidents saw refugees being met with violence from border enforcers.
The U.S. government attempted to help the refugees by taking control of large facilities and turning them into temporary warm shelters known as "National Heating Centers". These Heating Centers were typically former indoor arenas and theaters which include New York City's Madison Square Garden, the United Center in Chicago, the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, and the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.[1][3] By the end of 2017 over 178,000 people died from the winter.[4]