Year starts with record cold across the US
Bone-chilling cold gripped the middle of the United States as 2018 began yesterday, breaking low-temperature records and leading to at least two deaths attributed to exposure to the elements.
The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories covering a vast area from South Texas all the way to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming in the west through New England to the northern tip of Maine.
Dangerously low temperatures enveloped eight Midwest states including parts of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska along with nearly all of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.
The weather service said a temperature of -9.44C was recorded in Omaha, breaking a record low dating back to 1884, and the temperature was still dropping. That reading did not include the wind chill effect. It was even colder in Des Moines at -29C and wind chill dipping to -35C.
The wind chill dipped -38C in Duluth, Minnesota, a city known for its bitter cold winters.
An Indianapolis woman was in critical condition after she became confused in the snow and ice and turned her vehicle the wrong direction, driving 45m on a retention pond before her vehicle fell through the ice, according to WISH TV. She managed to make an emergency call but the phone went dead when the ice cracked.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office said two bodies found yesterday showed signs of hypothermia. They included a man in his 50s found on the ground in an alley and a 34-year-old man. — AP