Bitter cold hits Northeast, closing some schools

[January 24, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Bone-chilling cold is prompting some schools around the Northeast to delay openings, and some are canceling classes all together.

Schools in western and northeastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and in parts of Vermont and New Hampshire have closed their doors or are having delayed openings to protect students from temperatures that dropped in some locations as low as 25 degrees below zero or even colder.

The wind chill in some parts of New England is expected to make it feel as cold as 50 degrees below zero.

The low was 36 below in Saranac Lake, N.Y., early Monday morning.

In Newark, N.J., the wind chill is making it feel like 4 below zero. The National Weather Service predicts a high of 20 in New York City.

The cold has been linked to at least two deaths in the Northeast.

[Associated Press]

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