Polar winds bring life to freezing halt
RESIDENTS TOLD TO STAY INDOORS AS RECORD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED IN SOME PARTS
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled on Sunday at airports throughout the Midwest including Chicago, Indianapolis and St Louis. Many cities came to a virtual standstill.
Awhirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a “polar vortex” descended yesterday into much of the US, pummelling parts of the country with a dangerous cold that could break decades- old records with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.
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 travelling treacherous. Officials closed schools in cities including Chicago, St Louis and Milwaukee and warned residents to stay indoors and avoid the frigid cold altogether.
The forecast is extreme: 32 below zero in Fargo, North Dakota, minus 21 in Madison, Wisconsin and 15 below zero in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills — what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature — could drop into the minus 50s and 60s.
“It’s just a dangerous cold,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye in Missouri. It hasn’t been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the country. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly at 15 to 30 below zero.
Don’t drive
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.
“And don’t go out if you don’t have to,” she said.
It was 5 degrees at kickoff Sunday inside sold- out Lambeau Field for a playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, one of the coldest ever played.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard upgraded the city’s travel emergency level to “red,” making it illegal for anyone to drive except for emergencies or seeking shelter. The last time the city issued such a travel warning was during the 1978 blizzard.
For several Midwestern states, the bitter cold was adding to problems caused by a weekend snow storm. The National Weather Service said the snowfall at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport totalled more than 11 inches as of 6pm on Sunday — the most since the February 2, 2011, storm that shut down the city’s famed Lake Shore Drive.
Police in suburban Detroit said heavy snow was believed to have caused the roof to collapse at a two- storey building that once housed a bar.
Missouri transportation officials said it was too cold for rock salt to be very effective, and several Illinois roadways were closed because of drifting snow.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled on Sunday at airports throughout the Midwest including Chicago, Indianapolis and St Louis. Many cities came to a virtual standstill.