🌦 Axios PM: Wild weather week

Photos: Happy Mardi Gras! | Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Meta   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Feb 21, 2023 Happy Tuesday afternoon. Today's PM — edited by Kate Nocera — is 403 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the copy edit.     1 big thing: Wild weather everywhere Forecasts for Thursday show record cold in the West and record heat in the East. Image: Weatherbell.com Extreme weather will clobber most of the U.S. this week — with record-breaking cold and heavy snow in the West and record warmth in the East, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes. The U.S. is plastered with severe weather advisories, from blizzard warnings in Minnesota and Wyoming to high-wind alerts across the West and Plains. ⚠️ Threat level: The National Weather Service is warning of "life-threatening" conditions during a snowstorm in the Twin Cities, due to heavy snow and strong wind. The Winter Storm Severity Index indicates "extreme" impacts. Heavy snow will fall across the Rockies and Plains and into the Midwest, Great Lakes and northern New England by the end of the week. 🌡 Multiple cities in the Boston-Washington corridor are on track for their top 10-warmest meteorological winters. 🧊 Cold-temperature records are likely to be set from the Dakotas to California. Go deeper.     2. NFTs are down, not dead Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios The market for NFTs — non-fungible tokens — has gotten smaller. But it hasn't died, writes Brady Dale, co-author of Axios Crypto. How it works: NFTs are mainly known so far as digital collectibles — for example, collectible sports highlights or cartoon apes — that you and only you own. What we're watching: The NFT market used to do billions of dollars a month in volume. Now it's hundreds of millions. That's still a lot of money — more than $548 million worth of NFTs exchanged hands in the past 30 days. Share this story ... Get Axios Crypto.     A message from Meta Field trips in the metaverse will take learning beyond the textbook     Students learning about prehistoric eras will use virtual reality to take field trips to the Ice Age and visit the woolly mammoths. What this means: Students will not only learn their history lessons — they'll experience them. Explore more possibilities with the metaverse.     3. Catch me up President Biden outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, today. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters President Biden said during a fiery speech in Warsaw: "Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. ... One year into this war, Putin no longer doubts the strength of our coalition. But he still doubts our conviction. ... Our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire." Go deeper. The EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up the contamination from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Go deeper. WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released late last year in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, signed a new contract with the Phoenix Mercury. Go deeper.     4. 🎭 Pics du jour: Mardi Gras edition A member of a traditional Mardi Gras group, The Trams, marches during the Krewe of Zulu parade today in New Orleans. Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP Thousands of revelers lined the French Quarter and streets of New Orleans to watch Mardi Gras parades — organized by social clubs, Parade Krewes — and to party hard. The signature Trojan Horse float rolls in the Krewe of Orpheus parade last night. Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images     A message from Meta The metaverse will give doctors new tools to make decisions faster     In the ER, every second counts. Doctors will use the metaverse to visualize scans and make decisions faster — to help patients get the specialty care they need in a timely manner. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. Explore more possibilities with the metaverse.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: