Derry ex-pat Caroline O’Donnell witnesses frozen waterfalls and is glad to have missed the worst of New York ice blast

Caroline O’Donnell told the ‘Journal’ it was too cold to leave the house over much of the festive season due to the Arctic storm that wreaked havoc across large swathes of North America.

Caroline is the daughter of the late Patrick O’Donnell from Creggan and Pauline Morrow from Chamberlain Street.

She currently lives in Ithaca, New York, where she is the chair of the Department of Architecture at the Ivy League Cornell University.

The acclaimed architect, whose sister Sarah was visiting for the Christmas holidays, said Ithaca was mercifully spared the worst of the arctic blast which killed dozens of people across the US. The city of Buffalo, about two hundred kilometres to the west, was among the most severely affected.

“It was very cold and we had some snow but we missed the big storm and had no problems at all here,” she said.

Caroline said her three-year-old daughter Lúnasa received an array of presents from Santa Claus based on Disney’s hit animation Frozen.

When the mercury finally climbed to a level sufficient to allow the family to venture out of doors they discovered waterfalls literally frozen in mid air.

"Thursday was the first day that it was not too cold to go out so we had a walk and visited some frozen waterfalls...Sarah said it was lovely to have a ‘White Christmas’ and she was glad that it was nice and cosy inside. We were very grateful to still have power and heat.

"Santa managed to bear the cold and brought lots of toys including a Frozen dress, Frozen boots, and Peppa Pig figures in a case...it is hard for her not to believe that she has superpowers to freeze everything,” said Caroline.

According to state officials the 2022 blizzard that hit the north west of New York State over the Christmas period was the worst such weather event experienced in the area since 1977.