Record-cracking cold gripping most of USA won’t let loose for days
A huge swath of the USA is starting 2018 with brutal cold and dangerous wind chills as low temperatures are forecast to linger across much of the East Coast, Midwest and South in the coming days.
Temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees below average east of the Rockies and west of the Appalachians through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service issued windchill 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.
The frigid weather included recordsetting low temperatures in South Dakota, the weather service said. The mercury plunged to minus 21 in Pierre, minus 30 at Mobridge and minus 32 in Aberdeen. Aberdeen’s previous record-low temperature for New Year’s Day had stood for 99 years.
A hard freeze is forecast for parts of the southern USA as temperatures were expected to drop to the 20s and teens. A hard-freeze warning was in effect for parts of the South, affecting about 17 million people.
Despite the subzero temperatures, New Year’s Day festivities in many U.S. cities went on as normal.
In Milwaukee, where the high was expected to reach only 4 degrees Monday, the traditional Polar Plunge into
Lake Michigan went on as planned.
Monday was one of the four coldest New Year’s days on record in Milwaukee. The coldest high temperature was recorded in 1969 at 2 degrees; in 1924 and 1974, the high was 3 degrees.
Milwaukee Polar Plunge organizers warned participants that doctors suggested they think twice about diving into icy Lake Michigan.
“Due to the extreme cold conditions expected on January 1st, 2018, it is recommended by medical professionals that you do not participate in this event,” organizers warned. “If you choose to participate, you are doing so at your own risk.”
In Narragansett, R.I., officials advised would-be revelers for the Penguin Plunge to “use their good judgment” when weighing go or no-go.
And in Philadelphia, Mummers Parade participants strutted their stuff for the beloved event despite concerns for the young and elderly — and even worries over brass horns freezing up.
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 15 below was recorded in Omaha before midnight Sunday, breaking a record dating back to 1884. That reading did not include the wind chill — which forecasters expected would hit minus 40 degrees.
Omaha officials cited the forecast last week in postponing the 18th annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks Spectacular that draws about 30,000 people.
It was even colder in Des Moines early Monday at 20 below with the wind chill dipping to 31 below. City officials closed a downtown outdoor ice skating plaza and said it would not reopen until the city emerged from subzero temperatures.
In Minnesota, morning temperatures across the state ranged from minus 13 in the Twin Cities to minus 27 in Pipestone. Wind chills were about minus 30 in the metro and down to minus 40 in Duluth, Rochester, Marshall and Bemidji.
In western North Carolina, holiday events were canceled. The area around Asheville, N.C., saw light rain Sunday, and roads quickly became icy and dangerous. Traffic on Interstates 26 and 40 came to a standstill for several hours Sunday because of wrecks and heavy holiday traffic.