Parts of the deep south found themselves coated in ice Monday morning while residents along the east coast are digging out from up to a foot of snow.
Airports from Kansas City, Missouri through Washington, DC saw the delay or cancellation of thousands of flights because of a band of snow that covered over half the nation. Parts of St. Louis and Indianapolis had area receive as much as a foot of snow while surrounding areas saw three to six inches.
The snowfall turned to sleet and ice further south. Parts of Arkansas, southern Tennessee and northern Mississippi faced power outages and impassable roads with some locations coated in more than an inch of ice.
Weather forecasters say the snow removal and ice removal will be harder than normal because of the weight of the ice and snow. Heavy moisture from the Gulf of Mexico helped fuel the storm.
The extreme cold weather of the polar vortex has claimed a young victim.
A 6-year-old Bemidji, Minnesota girl is dead after being exposed to the frigid temperatures of that northern community.
The girl was found lying in front of an apartment building, fully dressed in gloves, a coat and hat, but it wasn’t enough for her to be able to survive in the elements. The temperature was 20 below zero with a wind chill passing 40 below.
Emergency personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office is performing an autopsy.
Neighbors say the girl lived in the apartments with her mother and 3-year-old sibling. Police say the girl’s mother was not there the night before the girl’s body was found and they do not know why the girl was outside.
While no arrests have been made, police say that could change pending the outcome of the autopsy.
Forecasters say that a temperature record that was set in the 19th century for Chicago could be in danger over the next week.
The polar vortex bringing cold temperatures back to the Midwest and Upper Plains states could cause Chicago to see a high temperature for Wednesday stay below the record for the date of 10 degrees set in 1888. The standing low record for the date is 1 below zero, but that was not broken overnight. It could still be broken later tonight.
Wind chill is also a major problem in the city with some areas reporting a wind chill more than 20 below zero.
The problem is predicted to be compounded by a second wave of cold air from the arctic that will force temperatures as far as ten below zero with wind chills greater than 30 below zero.
Forecasters say it’s possible the record low maximum temperature for Thursday, also 10 degrees set in 1888, could fall because of the second blast of cold air. The record low on February 28th of zero degrees set in 1884 is also likely to fall.
The blast of cold air is expected to keep driving down temperatures for over a week.
If you packed away your winter coat, dig it back out.
Meteorologists say the polar vortex, which has wreaked so much havoc on temperatures and winter storms, is coming back for at least one more round before the winter is over.
The National Weather Service reports that record cold temperatures are possible for the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and High Plains areas of the country. Minneapolis, Chicago, Buffalo and other northern cities could face temperatures as much as 40 degrees lower than normal this week.
The Climate Prediction Center says the frigid temperatures could last through the first week of March.
The latest winter storm to hit the East Coast has helped raise record levels of snow.
In Philadelphia, the snowfall Tuesday raised this winter’s total to the third highest in the history of the city. Officials said the snowfall level was surprising because only one of the 13 winter storms that brought snowfall reached more than one foot of snow, although 11 storms with more than one inch of snow ties two other winter seasons since recordkeeping began in the 1800s.
Another 2-4 inches is possible on Wednesday before temperatures will rise into the 40s.
In New York, the storm brought enough snow to raise the amount of February snowfall to 28 inches, more than the average snowfall for the entire winter season in Central Park. The overall snowfall total is the seventh highest in New York City history.
New Jersey officials who had been facing a shortage of road salt decided to stop waiting on the Department of Homeland Security to give a waiver for an international barge to bring salt from Maine and have found an American barge which is heading to Maine.
A fun outing for two Idaho fathers and their children turned into a nightmare when their SUV ended up stuck in the snow.
The men and their children ended up walking 19 miles in the bitter cold for nine hours to reach help.
Will Murkle and his 10-year-old daughter Megun were traveling with John Julian and his 8-year-old daughter Samantha and 7-year-old son Isaac when they realized they had no cellphone service or supplies after the accident.
The group said they sang songs to try and pass the time during the hike and would huddle together for warmth. They said the only time they really became scared was around midnight when they found fresh wolf tracks in the snow along their path.
“We could tell wolves had been in the area recently,” Murkle told ABC. The group ended up not encountering any wolves.
The fathers said they promised the children cheeseburgers, hot chocolate, fries and soda after the walk was over.
10-year-old Megun said she won’t be leaving the house again without an extra blanket, sleeping bags, food and water.
Another day, another winter weather record.
Meteorologists say that 5 inches of snow fell at Chicago’s O’Hare airport Monday bringing the total for the winter season to 67.9 inches. The total ranks as the 5th highest in the history of the state.
The storm brought whiteout conditions to Chicago through Cleveland and forced the cancellation or delay of over 2,000 flights from Chicago’s two major airports.
Some of the snowfall was “thunder snow” accompanied by lightning and thunder. Some communities reported as much as two inches of snow falling in a single hour. Parts of northern Michigan reported up to 9 inches of snow from the storm.
The storm is now moving rapidly to the East Coast for the third heavy snowstorm in the last three weeks. New York, Philadelphia and Boston are all expected to see significant accumulations. Power outages are likely with at least 2,000 customers in southeastern Pennsylvania in the dark as of Tuesday morning.
Officials from Maryland to Maine have issued travel advisories for the afternoon commute.
As another major winter storm bears down on the northeast, the Department of Homeland Security is working to make it harder and more expensive for New Jersey communities to keep ice off the roads.
New Jersey officials were trying to obtain tons of salt from Maine that would be delivered along the East Coast by barge for communities that have run out during the heavy winter of 2013-2014. However, Homeland Security has prohibited the shipments claiming they violate the 1920 Federal Maritime Act.
The 1920 Act says that no ship flying a flag other than American or flying no flag at all cannot transfer goods from one American port to another. The law was put in place to protect the U.S. shipping industry from foreign competition.
The barge was not an American ship and so it had to sail away empty, leaving the much needed road salt sitting at a port in Maine.
The mayor of Jersey City said he’s been waiting two weeks for salt shipments from smaller suppliers. They received 200 tons Tuesday and are hoping another 300 would arrive before the current storm front strikes. Mayor Steve Fulop noted the city usually uses 800 tons of salt for a winter storm.
The city has had to rely on much more expensive liquid brine and sand for city streets.
Officials say they are trying to work with Homeland Security to obtain larger shipments.
After leaving over 100,000 people across the south without power, a massive winter storm has now dumped record amounts of snowfall across parts of the northeast.
The 130-year-old record for snowfall in Philadelphia was blown away on Thursday and for the first time in the history of the city they have had four snowfalls of six inches or more in the same winter season. This winter is now in the top 5 for snowfall in the city’s history.
City officials told residents to stay home as the snow fell at rates of as much as 2 inches an hour. If someone had to travel, they were told to take a fully charged cell phone and warm clothes in the likely event they would be stuck by the conditions.
Bus and rail service was suspended throughout the region because of the unsafe travel conditions.
Meteorologists say the back end of the storm could bring a second major punch with significant snowfall including thundersnow.
The massive winter storms that shut down most of the eastern United States have now caused more flight cancellations than any storm in the last 25 years.
According to data from the flight tracking website FlightAware, 5.5% of all U.S. flights scheduled since December 1st have been cancelled because of the winter storms that have wreaked havoc from the Gulf Coast to the Canadian border.
At least 14,000 flights have been cancelled so far this week because of the most recent storm.
On Thursday, more than 70% of flights from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Charlotte were cancelled because of the dangerous icy conditions. The record flight data since December 1st also notes that ice caused cancellations in airports where it normally has very little impact like Dallas and Houston.
Part the increase is related to a 2010 Department of Transportation rule that airlines may not keep passengers in a plane on the tarmac more than 3 hours.
