Snow-covered roads and high winds created treacherous driving Sunday from the Dakotas to Michigan and Missouri as residents braced for the next round of bad weather: dangerously cold temperatures that could break records across much of the US.
Temperatures were being suppressed by a “polar vortex,” a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air that will affect more than half of the continental US. throughout Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.
The forecast is extreme: 25 below zero Fahrenheit (31 below zero Celsius) in Fargo, North Dakota, minus 31 F (minus 35 C) in International Falls, Minnesota, and 15 below F (26 below C) in Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills — what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature — could drop into the negative 50s and 60s. Northeastern Montana was warned Sunday of wind chills up to 59 below zero F (51 below zero C).
Several Midwestern states were walloped with up to a foot (30 centimetres) of new snow on Sunday. Five to 9 inches (12.5 to 22.5 centimetres) fell overnight in the Chicago area, while the St. Louis area had about a foot (30 centimetres) of snow and northern Indiana had at least 8 inches (20 centimetres. Central Illinois was bracing for 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimetres), and southern Michigan could see up to 15 inches (37.5 centimetres).
Officials closed several Illinois roadways because of drifting snow, and warned residents to stay inside. Roads in the Midwest were particularly dangerous, and officials in Missouri warned it was too cold for rock salt to be very effective. In Chicago, temperatures were expected to bottom out around minus 15 F (minus 26 C) overnight, likely setting a daily record, National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Fenelon said.
Earlier Sunday, temperatures sank to 20-below F (29-below C) and colder in northern Minnesota and Grand Forks, North Dakota. In Wisconsin, Green Bay Packers fans packed Lambeau Field despite the dangerous cold for Sunday’s National Football League playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers.
It could be among the coldest ever played: It was 5 degrees F (minus 15 degrees Celsius) at kickoff at 3:40 p.m. CST, warmer than expected. It hasn’t been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the US Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly at 15 to 30 below zero F (26 to 34.4 below zero C).
Lorna West, a 43-year-old student and consultant from Columbus, Ohio, said she doesn’t believe people unaccustomed to such weather are ready for what’s coming. A Chicago native, she said thermal underwear, lots of layers and “Eskimo coats” with zipped hoods to block the wind were the norm growing up.
Travel problems started early Sunday. In New York City, a plane from Toronto landed at Kennedy International Airport and then slid into snow on a taxiway. No one was hurt, though the airport temporarily suspended operations because of icy runways.
About 1,200 flights had been cancelled Sunday at O’Hare and Midway international airports in Chicago, aviation officials said, and there also were cancellations at Logan International Airport in Boston and Tennessee’s Memphis and Nashville international airports.
School was called off Monday for the entire state of Minnesota, as well as cities and districts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, among others.
Southern states were bracing for possible record cold temperatures, too, with single-digit F highs (highs from minus 13 to minus 17 C)expected Tuesday in Georgia and Alabama.
Temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s F (single digits C) in parts of Florida on Tuesday. But Florida Citrus Mutual spokesman Andrew Meadows said it must be at 28 degrees F (minus 2 C) or lower four hours straight for fruit to freeze badly. Ctvnews
DT/DT
Source: Press TV