The Midwest and the East were colder than much of Antarctica on Tuesday
Around 70 daily record lows expected to be broken on Tuesday from the Deep South to Northeast and Midwest
The windchill in Comertown, Montana made it feel as low as -62°F
In New York City, Central Park was 5F on Tuesday, the coldest January 7 since 1896
One in ten domestic departures canceled on Monday morning; more delays expected today
Further travel disruptions are expected and schools closures are still in effect in Washington D.C. and Atlanta
JetBlue begins to resume service from 10am Tuesday after correcting a backlog of canceled flights
Experts have called the temperatures and freezing winds ‘dangerous and life threatening’ – warning that skin can freeze in just ten minutes in wind chills of minus 50
By
Louise Boyle
PUBLISHED:
00:22 EST, 7 January 2014
|
UPDATED:
13:47 EST, 7 January 2014
Brutal, life-threatening cold descended over the East and the South, sending the mercury plummeting on Tuesday into the single digits and teens from New York and Washington to Atlanta, Nashville and Birmingham – where many people have little experience in dealing with freezing weather.
After pounding the Midwest and Great
Lakes over the weekend, snow from winter storm Ion started to move
into the East on Tuesday.
The morning weather map for the eastern half of the U.S. was dotted with lots of small, negative numbers. The Midwest and the East were colder than much of Antarctica.
The historic freeze shuttered schools, businesses and made road conditions treacherous. More
than 3,700 flights – around one out
of every 10 domestic departures – were canceled on Monday with delays continuing today. The majority
of cancellations were in Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Boston.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Garret Kelenske, 49, works to remove snow on the sidewalk in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on Tuesday as temperatures reached record lows across the country
A vehicle drives through a barely visible intersection of Route 33 and Batavia Stafford Townline Road on Tuesday in Stafford, New York. Dangerously cold polar air snapped decades-old records as it spread Tuesday from the Midwest to southern and eastern parts of the U.S.
Snow covers an Abraham Lincoln statue in Hackley Park on Tuesday in Muskegon, Michigan
An exterior waterfall that froze overnight is seen at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC on Tuesday
Cold snap: Temperatures across the U.S. on Tuesday morning (EST) as more than half the country battled the effects of a ‘polar vortex’ of frigid arctic air
Ice forms on rocks on the Brooklyn waterfront across from lower Manhattan in New York on Tuesday
A man walks past a snow encrusted bicycle with wind chills nearing minus 30F on Tuesday, in downtown Chicago
Commuters exit Union Station with wind chills nearing minus 30F in downtown Chicago (left) as a woman and young boy head to school in Manhattan on Tuesday morning
Almost 1,200 flights were canceled at Chicago’s two airports on Tuesday as a deep freeze lingers across the country.
The city’s Department of Aviation said today that airlines have canceled about 1,000 flights at O’Hare International Airport. Another 180 were canceled at Midway International Airport. Delays were reported at both facilities.
On Monday, airlines canceled about 1,700 flights at the two airports, while 1,300 were canceled Sunday when nearly foot of snow fell on the city.
The National Weather Service says the temperature was 10 degrees below zero at O’Hare on Tuesday morning, although the wind chill made it feel significantly colder. By midday, the temperature climbed to two below.
Georgia, where the temperature
dropped into the single digits, was colder than many cities in Alaska.
While Kodiak and Juneau registered 39 and Anchorage was at 27, Atlanta
dipped to 6 degrees early in the morning, or nearly 30 degrees below the
average low this time of year.
‘This
is severely cold for these parts,’ said Brian Lynn, a National Weather
Service meteorologist in Peachtree City, Georgia. ‘Single digits are a
rare event.’
Farther south
in Pensacola, Florida, a Gulf Coast city better known for its white sand
beaches than frost, streets normally filled with joggers, bikers and
people walking dogs were deserted early on Tuesday as temperatures
remained in the teens after sunrise.
A passenger catches the train today in Chicago, Illinois. Many trains were delayed on the system because doors on the trains kept freezing open
St. Simon’s on the Sound Episcopal Church’s fountains were frozen over Tuesday just after sunrise in Fort Walton Beach, Florida where locals are unaccustomed to such temperatures
A salesmen at a dealership digs out cars covered in snow in Indianapolis on Tuesday as temperatures hovered around zero
Map of the U.S. on Tuesday shows wind chill temperatures throughout the lower 48 states; wind chill advisories and warnings are in effect for 32 states from Montana to southern Florida
A
sign on a bank near the bus stop flashed 19 degrees at around 8am.
Patches of ice sparkled in parking lots where puddles froze overnight.
In
the East, a blizzard smothered western New York with up to 18 inches of
snow and wind gusts of up to 50 mph. As much as 3 feet of snow could
fall there by the time the storm eases on Wednesday.
In New York City, Central Park was 5F on Tuesday, the coldest January 7 since 1896, according to NBC New York.
Airports LaGuardia, Newark and JFK were also hit with record lows.
Newark airport fell to 4 degrees, according to the National Weather
Service.
Temperatures
in parts of West Virginia hit lows not seen for 25 years, while the
extreme cold in Virginia broke records that had stood since the late
1950s.
The National
Weather Service said the mercury bottomed out at 3 degrees before
sunrise at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshal International Airport,
with a wind chill of minus 16.
Forecasters
said some 187 million people in all could feel the effects of the
‘polar vortex’ by the time it spread across the country.
PJM
Interconnection, which operates the power grid supplying energy to more
than 61 million people in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South, asked
users to conserve electricity because of the cold, especially in the
morning and late afternoon.
Meanwhile,
recovery was the focus in several Midwestern states. The subzero cold
followed inches of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous
and was blamed for numerous deaths in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and
Ohio.
On
Monday, the temperatures reached such extreme lows across the Midwest
that Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago was forced to keep their polar bear
Anana indoors in a ‘climate-controlled’ area.
A
zoo spokesman explained polar bears in the Arctic would normally
develop a fat blubber layer to deal with sub-zero temperatures but that
Anana hasn’t done so in the generally warmer environment of the windy
city.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence issued disaster declarations, a first step toward seeking federal aid.
At
least 15,000 customers in Indiana were without power early Tuesday.
Utility crews worked to restore service as temperatures plunged into the
negative teens, but officials warned that some customers could be in
the cold and dark for days.
A man bundled against the cold grabs a hot coffee as temperatures dipped into the single digits on Tuesday in Washington, DC (left). A woman wraps up warm for the walk to the metro as the wind chill made it feel even colder in the nation’s capital
A commuter departs from Union Station with wind chills nearing minus 30F in Chicago (left) as a man struggles to stay warm on the streets of New York City
A man crosses in front of a steam vent in downtown Detroit, Michigan as a deep freeze set in along much of the eastern seaboard
More
than 500 Amtrak passengers spent the night on three trains headed for
Chicago that were stranded because of blowing and drifting snow in
Illinois. Spokesman Marc Magliari said all the passengers, traveling
from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Quincy, Ill., would reach Chicago by
train or bus later Tuesday.
Warmer
weather – at least, near or above freezing – is in the forecast for
much of the eastern half of the U.S. Indianapolis should reach 27
degrees on Wednesday, and other cities in the Midwest and in the East
could climb above freezing later in the week.
By
Wednesday, subzero high temperatures will be virtually gone from the
Lower 48 States. On Thursday, highs in the 20s or 30s in much of the
Great Lakes and Northeast will seem downright balmy compared to earlier
in the week.
The deep freeze is to blame for at least 13 deaths so far – almost all of them from traffic accidents. A
man in Wisconsin died of hypothermia, while an elderly woman with
Alzheimer’s was found dead in the snow about 100 yards away from
her home in New York state after wandering out.
A furious blaze engulfed Happy’s Pizza shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan today as icicles hung from the traffic signs nearby in the arctic temperatures
Ann Arbor firefighters covered in ice work to put out a fire that engulfed Happy’s Pizza in Michigan on Tuesday
Ice covers the street and cross walk sign as Ann Arbor firefighters worked for several hours in temperatures that dipped to 15 degrees below zero to extinguish a blaze at the pizza shop. No injuries were reported following the fire
Ice hangs on a fire hydrant and hose as Ann Arbor firefighters battled the fire in extreme conditions
Monday’s
subzero temperatures broke records in Chicago, which set a record for
the date at minus 16, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the mercury fell to
13 below.
Records
also fell in Oklahoma and Texas, and wind chills across the region were
40 below and colder. Officials in states like Indiana already struggling
with high winds and more than a foot of snow urged residents to stay
home if they could.
‘The
cold is the real killer here,’ Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said on
Monday as he asked schools and businesses to remain closed another day.
‘In 10 minutes you could be dead without the proper clothes.’
In
Minnesota, officials took the rare step of closing all of the state’s
public schools on Monday – the first time in 17 years.
Schools across
Chicago, Milwaukee and St Louis were also closed, while officials in
Washington D.C. and as far south as Atlanta have announced school
closures for Tuesday.
Ice covers rocks and brush on the break wall at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, Ohio as half the U.S. was battered by winter storm Ion
How does a polar vortex occur? A chart outlines the cause of the weather front
On Monday the winds made it feel like
55 below zero in International Falls, Minnesota, and parts of the Midwest
accustomed to temperatures that are cold – albeit seldom this cold.
But
even the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia, the wind chill was
negative 35.
Every major
weather-reporting station in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin
reported temperatures below zero at 11 a.m. on Monday, and South Dakota
would have joined them if not for the reading of 1 at Rapid City.
The
coldest temperature reported in a 24-hour period through Monday was -36
degrees at Crane Lake, Minn. The warmest: 84 at Hollywood and Punta
Gorda, Fla.
On
Monday morning, Nashville was 40 degrees colder than Albany, New York.
Memphis, Tennessee, was 20 degrees colder than Anchorage, Alaska. And
Atlanta was colder than Moscow – either Russia or Idaho.
In
the Great Lakes region, temperatures hovered in the negative 20s –
before wind chill, which dropped temps to the negative 50s, making it
very dangerous to go outside.
Meteorologists
have warned about ‘dangerous, life-threatening winds’, that
can inflict frostbite on exposed skin in just 10 minutes.
Temperatures are so cold across the Midwest that antifreeze in residents’ cars could freeze, the National Journal
pointed out. The popular brand freezes at 34 degrees – and the coldest
temperature on Monday afternoon was minus 35 in Crane Lake, Minnesota.
‘Skin freezes in just five minutes with a wind chill of minus 50,’ said HLN meteorologist Bob Van Dillen as wind chills are putting temperatures in northern Minnesota at 60 below zero.
For a big chunk of the Midwest, the
subzero temperatures were moving in behind another winter wallop: more
than a foot of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous.
With wind chills as low as 45 below zero at some airports, workers could only remain exposed on the ramp for a few minutes. That made loading and unloading luggage a challenge.
JetBlue Airways stopped all scheduled flights to and from New York and Boston. Operations will begin to ramp up
again at 10am on Tuesday and the airline expects to be fully operational
by 3pm on Tuesday. It will allow the company to rest crew and give it
time to service aircraft.
American Airlines said temperatures were so cold at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport that fuel and de-icing liquids were actually frozen. United Airlines said its fuel is pumping slower than normal in Chicago.
Ice forms on the shore of the East River due to unusually low temperatures caused by a polar vortex in New York on Tuesday
With temperatures in downtown Pittsburgh at -5 degrees on Tuesday, a flock of gulls huddles on the ice formed on the Allegheny river. A high of 2 degrees is predicted for Tuesday in Pittsburgh
Steam escapes from a downtown office building as pedestrian goes through the Warehouse District in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday
Passengers reported long lines at airports as they tried to rebook on other flights. United Airlines had so many phone calls that it was suggesting travelers use its website to rebook.
In recent years, airlines have cut the number of flights to ensure that most of their planes depart full. That’s been great for their bottom line but leaves very few empty seats to rebook stranded travelers. Sometimes, it takes days to get everybody where they should be.
Planes weren’t the only form of mass transportation disrupted by the historic freeze. There also were widespread delays and cancellations in ground transportation – including Amtrak, buses and commuter trains.
Officials with Chicago’s commuter rail, Metra, said there were multiple accidents, including one in which 14 passengers reported injuries – and six were taken to the hospital with minor injuries – after a train hit a ‘bumping post’ at a downtown station.
Weather-related engine problems forced an Amtrak train carrying 200 passengers to stop for more than 8 1/2 hours in southwestern Michigan before arriving early Monday morning in Chicago.
And the Southern Illinois men’s basketball team spent the night on a church floor in central Illinois after their bus got stuck in a snowdrift on Interstate 57 following Sunday’s storm.
Drivers didn’t fare much better. A state emergency official said nearly 400 vehicles – including six semis – were stuck for several hours overnight on Sunday along a snowy stretch of interstate in southern Illinois.
Wind chills: Left, a pedestrians walks in in Chicago’s South Loop with temperatures well below zero. Right, a graphic charts the average time it takes to become frostbitten by wind wind chill – a very real possibility in some of the most snow-ravaged spots in the country
Widespread power outages were being
blamed on the storm, including in Indiana, where crews worked to restore
services for more than 40,000 customers. Utility officials cautioned
some people could be in the cold and dark until Thursday.
‘Due to the extreme conditions, damage is significant,’ Indianapolis Power Light spokeswoman Katie Bunton said.
State officials said sites without power included the residential portion of the governor’s residence in Indianapolis.
Gov.
Mike Pence noted during a news conference on Monday that the house has
‘lots of fireplaces’ but urged others without power to go to a shelter
if necessary.
The city of
Indianapolis evacuated more than 400 residents without heat or power,
said Marc Lotter, a spokesman for Mayor Greg Ballard. Many found
temporary comfort at warming centers set up around the city, while those
needing long-term shelter were sent to the American Red Cross.
Utility officials reported more than 1,600 residents in eastern Missouri also remained without power on Monday afternoon.
In
Chicago, hospital emergency rooms treated patients with frostbite,
weather-related asthma and head injuries from falls on ice.
‘It’s
pretty typical of what we see when it’s this cold,’ said Dr. Paul
Casey, an ER doctor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. ‘Later
in the day, the more people are outside working, we may see more
cold-related injuries such as frostbite and hypothermia.’
Cook
County’s health system encouraged patients to reschedule their
non-emergency appointments. Cook County’s Stroger Hospitals treated one
homeless man with frostbite, said health system spokeswoman Marisa
Kollias.
‘‘I’m going to
try to make it two blocks without turning into crying man,’ said Brooks
Grace, who was bundling up to do some banking and shopping in downtown
Minneapolis, where temperatures reached 23 below, with wind chills of
minus 48. ‘It’s not cold – it’s painful.’
The
mercury also dropped into negative territory in Milwaukee, St. Louis
and Chicago, which set a record for the date at minus 16. Wind chills
across the region were 40 below and colder. Records also fell in
Oklahoma, Texas and Indiana.
From the Dakotas to Maryland, schools and day care centers shut down.
‘You
definitely know when you are not wearing your thermal undergarments,’
said Staci Kalthoff, who raises cattle with her husband on a 260-acre
farm in Albany, Minn., where the temperature hovered around 24 below
zero and winds made it feel like minus 46. ‘You have to dress really,
really warm and come in more often and thaw out everything.’
For
a big swath of the Midwest, the subzero cold moved in behind another
winter wallop: more than a foot of snow and high winds that made
traveling treacherous.
Several
deaths were blamed on the snow, ice and cold since Saturday, including
the death of a one-year-old boy who was in a car that went out of
control and collided with a snowplow on Monday in Missouri and three
fatal accidents in Michigan.
The crash stranded
about 375 vehicles, but there were no fatalities or injuries, largely
because motorists either stayed with their cars or were rescued and
taken to nearby warming centers if they were low on gas or didn’t have
enough coats or blankets, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois
Emergency Management Agency.
Others
got stuck in the snowdrifts, including the Southern Illinois men’s
basketball team, which had to spend the night in a church.
In
the eastern United States, temperatures in the 40s and 50s on Monday
helped melt piles of snow from a storm last week, raising the risk that
roads would freeze over as the cold air moved in Monday night, said Bob
Oravec from the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md. The snap
was set to be dramatic; Springfield, Mass., enjoyed 56 degrees Monday
morning but faced an overnight low of 6.
More
than 3,700 flights were canceled by late Monday afternoon, following a
weekend of travel disruption across the U.S. Airline officials said
de-icing fluid was freezing, fuel was pumping sluggishly, and ramp
workers were having difficulty loading and unloading luggage.
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Comments (273)
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The comments below have not been moderated.
mummyof2,
Dublin, Ireland,
moments ago
Why are people outside in that freezing weather??? Just looking @ the pics I’m cold!!
Colette,
Toronto, Canada,
moments ago
We’ve got it cold up here in Toronto right now too. In fact this winter has been cold right from the get go so hopefully we will get an early spring! You just have to dress up warm when you do go out I have some nice woolly socks that keep my feet toasty and lined jeans are a must too. Keep your house at a constant temperature day and night rather than raising and lowering the temperature all the time your house will stay warmer and your heating will come on less! We have had ours on 20 the whole winter and its toasty. If you get a little chilly while sitting still get up and move or have a basket of blankets for people to snuggle rather than raising the temperature! Put some cosy fleece or flannel sheets on your bed and you will be fine! Im from the UK so I wasn’t used to it being this cold either when we first arrived 8 years ago but I’ve got it all sorted now! The only thing I can’t stand is the freezing rain and icy paths!
Lightwins,
Oakland, United States,
22 minutes ago
It is beyond my comprehension that so many people still deny climate change in the face of these extreme weather patterns. I guess the people of the world and the greedy corporations that run the planet will continue to deny it until most of us are dead.
Selliria,
Oxford, United Kingdom,
moments ago
I don’t see as much of people outright denying climate change. I see people denying the idea that human beings are making a significant impact on it.
Kevin M Moley,
Phoenix, United States,
32 minutes ago
Oh God! .. Two weeks of this! .. Enough already! .. We get it, it is cold! .. Isn’t that what Winter is suppose to be?.. Did we really need to come up with a new term for Winter called Polar Vortex? .. How many videos can we watch on hot water instantly being turned into ice! ..
Kristof,
London, United Kingdom,
37 minutes ago
Oh big deal, Americans are killing innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis and they never pay the consequences. But when this happens everyone is suppose to feel bad for poor little America.
2 of 4 repliesSee all replies
nonamehere,
Ypsilanti, United States,
8 minutes ago
what a stupid comment.
nonamehere,
Ypsilanti, United States,
8 minutes ago
what a dumb ass comment.
King Richard,
London, United Kingdom,
38 minutes ago
May be god is punishing these people
Amanda,
Padova, Italy,
8 minutes ago
So glad I don’t live in London with people like you.
vanilla,
Chicago, United States,
39 minutes ago
Well they said it will be 10 in Chicago but it’s actually -10, little better then yesterday. But you can’t stay outside not even for a minute.
Curious in USA,
Phoenix AZ,
41 minutes ago
I am in northern WI near Lake Superior. I couldn’t even tell you how many times this winter it has been -10, -15, -20 below zero F. It has been below zero more than it has been above zero. I don’t even want to talk about the winds. -55 F this morning. I haven’t left my house in several days. Needless to say come summer I am getting the hell out of here for good!
- lrsenne07, Chicago, 1/7/14, 6:2
I’m from northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior and the cold weather rocks!!! It’s invigorating!! Go outside and get some exercise. It feels great if u keep moving
sorryfornoticing,
Los Angeles,
45 minutes ago
Thank God for runaway Global Warming! I mean, this is the generation that will not know what snow is!!!!
JeffreyK,
East Coast, United States,
26 minutes ago
To repeat, weather is NOT the same as global warming. Please learn some basic science before posting.
fair2middlin,
MiddleUSA,
12 minutes ago
idiot.
Selliria,
Oxford, United Kingdom,
45 minutes ago
Stay warm, America.
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