2018 starts with record cold in parts of the Midwest
UNITED STATES: Bone-chilling cold gripped much of the central US as 2018 began, breaking century-old records, icing over some New Year’s celebrations 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 to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming through New England. Dangerously low temperatures enveloped much of the Midwest, yet didn’t deter hundreds of people from ringing in the new year by jumping into Lake Michigan.
Despite sub-freezing temperatures and a warning of potential hypothermia from the local fire chief, throngs of people took part in the annual tradition in Milwaukee, warming up later with chili or heat from a beach fire pit.
A similar event was cancelled from the Chicago lakefront, where the temperature dipped below zero as thick white steam rose from the lake. Organisers said the arctic blast made jumping into the lake too dangerous.
``I’m not happy about it. But I was down by the lake and, gosh, if you were dropped in there, it’d take you 10 minutes to get out,’' Jeff Coggins, who helped organise the thwarted Chicago event, told WBBM-TV.
Instead, would-be Chicago plungers had their pictures taken while jumping on the frozen beach _ in their swimsuits.
Temperatures plunged elsewhere in the Midwest, including in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where the mercury dropped to a recordbreaking -36 C. The previous New Year’s Day record had stood for 99 years.
In Nebraska, temperatures hit -26C before midnight Sunday, local time, in Omaha, breaking a record low dating to 1884. Omaha officials cited the forecast in postponing the 18th annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks Spectacular that draws around 30,000 people.
It was colder in Des Moines, where city officials closed a downtown outdoor ice skating plaza and said it wouldn’t reopen until the city emerged from sub-zero temperatures. The temperature hit -29C yesterday, with the wind chill dipping to -35C.
In northeastern Montana, the wind chill readings dipped as low as -50C. And in Duluth, Minnesota, a city known for its bitter cold winters, the wind chill dipped to -38 C. -AP