Arctic blast brings dangerous cold to Midwest, New England

[January 21, 2019]  By Rich McKay

(Reuters) - Winter winds and ice sheets will bring extreme cold and ice-slick roads to the Midwestern and Eastern United States on Monday.

An arctic blast of frigid air has followed a January storm that dumped more than a foot of the snow and sleet across the Northeast, which started melting Sunday.

Temperatures fell to single-digits Farhenheit from New York City to Boston and froze melting snow late Sunday and early Monday, said Marc Chenard at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Winds up to 30 to 40 miles per hour added possibly deadly wind chill.
 

"This is definitely dangerous, life-and-death kind of weather happening," Chenard said. "Minnesota and Wisconsin will see temperatures in the negative 20s."

"Boston will be just 3 degrees (Farhenheit) this morning, with wind chills of minus 12 or more," he said. "New York City and D.C. will be in that same range, maybe hitting the teens later today. It'll be record or near-record cold."

The NWS issued wind-chill advisories and warnings for more than 10 states, from North Dakota and to East Coast metropolitan centers.

High temperatures for Monday are forecast at 17 Fahrenheit (minus 8 Celsius) for New York City and 12 F (minus 11 C) for Boston.

The U.S. Capitol is seen behind a snow pile in Washington, U.S., January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

Travel delays were easing by early Monday. More than 2,000 flights were delayed, mostly in New York and New England airports, according to FlightAware.com, compared with more than 14,000 on Sunday. About 300 flights were canceled early Monday compared with more than 2,000 Sunday, the website reported.

Tuesday's weather will be only slightly warmer, Chenard said, with temperatures reaching the low 20s Fahrenheit in the Northeast. By Wednesday, some areas such as Boston will be in the high 30s or low 40s. Washington D.C. temperatures might reach 50 degrees, he said.

But the relatively warmer temperatures won't last. Another arctic blast is on its way in time for Super Bowl Sunday.

(Reporting by Rich McKay, additional reporting by Barbaara Goldberg; editing by Larry King)

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