Frigid weather expected in Oklahoma
a hallway, but the mess wasn’t expected to interrupt a game Friday.
Diann Wears, of Toledo, said she was already fed up with winter as she stood along a slush-covered sidewalk while waiting for a bus.
“And it’s just the beginning,” she said Friday. “I’m sure it will get worse.”
Frigid conditions in Boston took their toll on the nation’s fifth-largest transit system.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has spent heavily to winterize what’s known as the “T’’ since it was crippled by record-breaking snowfall in 2015. But the agency reported “severe delays” on one of its lines Friday, citing a broken piece of track and a disabled train, among other problems.
Crews worked through the night to repair cracked rails and broken switches ahead of the Friday morning commute.
Several deaths have been linked to the wintry weather during the past week.
In South Dakota, an 83-year-old woman died from exposure to the cold after she crashed her car and then got out to look for help. Search crews found her body in a ditch on Sunday. Three people were found dead in a canal along Lake Erie earlier this week after their car slid off an icy road.
The National Weather Service predicts another blast of arctic air will chill much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. through the weekend and into 2018.
Temperatures could fall into the single digits as far south as Oklahoma and sink to zero or below Friday night in Nebraska and Iowa and remain there for at least three days.
“It’s pretty unusual to get that long of a streak where it’s completely below zero,” said Iowa’s State Climatologist Harry Hillaker. “Historically, that doesn’t happen very often in Des Moines.”
The Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies braced for storms forecasters warned could bring several feet of mountain snow and freezing rain.
With the bitter cold expected to stick around, many New Year’s Eve plans are being scuttled.
Shore towns in New Jersey canceled plans for polar bear plunges in the Atlantic Ocean and organizers pulled the plug on the annual light bulb drop in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
Fireworks shows have been called off in Omaha and at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. And New York City’s Coney Island says it will be too cold for free rides on the Wonder Wheel and Thunderbolt roller coaster.
Animal advocates urged people to protect their pets from the cold. Wild animals weren’t immune from the dangers of winter, either.
In Ohio, wildlife officers
Oklahomans can expect dangerously cold weather and chances for ice and snow over the weekend.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service’s Norman office predict chances for freezing drizzle and snow across most of the state Saturday, with little accumulation expected. Temperatures are expected to drop into the teens Saturday night.
On Sunday, forecasters predict highs in the lower 20s and chances for snow across the southern half of the state. Overnight low temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits.
High temperatures Monday are expected to be in the teens. mulled how to rescue a deer whose legs were stuck in an ice-covered river. They managed to lasso the deer with a rope and pull it to shore Friday, but they later had to euthanize the injured animal.