Vortex gives way to ‘springlike’ temps
After days of stunningly bitter winter weather that sent temperatures plummeting as low as 56 degrees below zero, paralyzed airline and rail travel, closed schools and businesses and suspended mail delivery in nine states, the worst of this polar vortex is over.
At least 18 people have died as a result of the cold and snow.
While temperatures Friday morning were still near zero across a wide swath of the nation – including Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, New York, and Burlington, Vermont – the forecast into the weekend was downright balmy.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a case where we’ve seen (such a big) shift in temperatures” in the winter, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the Weather Underground.
“Past record-cold waves have not dissipated this quickly. … Here we are going right into springlike temperatures.”
At least 160 cold-temperature records were set in the Midwest and Northeast over the last two days of January, according to the Weather Channel.
The wild swing in temperatures raises concerns about water main breaks, potholes and flooding rivers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned Michigan residents that “the rapid change in weather and snowmelt could lead to dangerous flooding.”
In Detroit, which broke a 99-year-old record for Jan. 31, coming in at minus 14 degrees Thursday morning, AccuWeather called for a high of 45 on Sunday and 50 on Monday.
In Chicago, where the Chicago River turned to ice as temperatures fell to 23 below zero Wednesday morning, AccuWeather was calling for 45 on Sunday and 52 on Monday.
In Illinois, at least 144 people visited hospital emergency rooms for cold-related injuries over two days.
Daily records also fell in cities across Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. International Falls, Minnesota, broke a 23-year-old record by 10 degrees, with a low of 45 degrees below zero Thursday morning.
In other signs that the worst of the deep freeze was ending, Xcel Energy on Thursday lifted a request to its Minnesota natural gas customers to temporarily lower their thermostats to ease concerns about the fuel supply.
The chunk of the polar vortex that brought the cold blast was “rotating up into Canada” and not expected to return in the next couple of weeks, Masters said, adding that “it won’t be as intense” if it returns in late February.
The death toll blamed on the ice and snow reached 18 when four fatalities were reported in New York on Thursday, including two men who died clearing snow in Erie County. Another man was killed when his vehicle hit a snowdrift and slammed into a pole in Livingston County, and a homeless man’s frozen body was found in a suburban Buffalo bus shelter.
Despite the recent chill, however, January was warmer than average across the nation, thanks to the unusually mild first half of the month. There were about twice as many record high temperatures as record lows for the month, according to NOAA.