Arctic blast puts 200M people in deep freeze

Frigid air mass and record lows head south

CHICAGO – Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, some areas struggled under more than a foot of snow and more than 200 million people faced a freezing forecast Tuesday as a historic Arctic air mass swept across much of the nation.

Bitter cold temperatures were reported from the Canadian border to South Texas. The freeze was moving east, headed for a swath from New England to Florida.

Chicagoans awoke to single digits, a few inches of snow and a forecast high of 20 degrees that would smash the city’s record for the date by 8 degrees. That’s after an American Eagle flight slid off a runway Monday while landing at O’Hare International Airport. No injuries were reported.

The National Weather Service in Chicago warned that the combination of air temperatures and blustery northwest winds had sent wind chills below zero.

Ederin Davis, 31, flew in from New Orleans and 70 degrees on Sunday. Two days later the Chicago resident was shivering on Michigan Avenue.

“I woke up to nothing but snow. It’s not even that late in November. I also just ordered a new, longer coat and boots,” Davis said. “It’s terrible.”

Jarrett Bluett, who has lived in the city for 40 of his 49 years, shrugged off the wintry weather.

“I’m immune to it. I just put clothes on, and it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “You adjust to it.”

Detroit was also looking at record cold – and a record November snow of almost 10 inches. In addition to messy roadways clogged with accidents, delays at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Monday reached an average of 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Empire, Michigan, reported 30 inches of snow. Bangor got more than 2 feet. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where it was 9 degrees, set its third daily snowfall record in the past 12 days.

The wintry event wasn’t just a northern thing. In Texas, residents of Hebbronville, 60 miles from the Mexican border, woke up to freezing temperatures and snow. It was 9 degrees in Amarillo.

“For them, this morning was the worst case scenario,” AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys said Tuesday. “For others, Wednesday will be worse.”

Wednesday will be colder for many from the Great Lakes to the Northeast and down all the way into Florida, Roys told USA TODAY.

“You are talking single digits in Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit,” Roys said. “Atlanta will see the mid-20s. Low 20s in Birmingham, some other parts of Alabama. We will be challenging records everywhere.”

More snow and cold were on the way. More than 200 million people will be freezing between Tuesday and Thursday, he said.

“The cold will continue to shift south and east into Wednesday, finally encompassing more than half of the country,” Roys said.

More than 300 daily records could fall through Thursday, the weather service said.

The weather front is related to the polar vortex, a large cold air mass high up in the atmosphere that normally spins over the North Pole in winter. Sometimes it drifts down, funneling cold air across the country.

“Of course, this Arctic blast is related to the dreaded polar vortex,” tweeted meteorologist Ryan Maue of BAM Weather, who also noted that “24-hour temperature change is incredible with 40°-50°F drops behind the brutal front.”

“I woke up to nothing but snow. It’s not even that late in November.” Ederin Davis, 31, of Chicago