(Newswire.net— December 31, 2017) –Numerous flights have been canceled, and schools and business facilities are closed. Even the Niagara Falls froze over, for the first time in 30 years. According to official information, 16 people lost their lives in the storm. Authorities urge citizens not to leave their homes.
During the final hours of 2017, the temperature in New York City’s Times Square was expected to drop to about 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill at nearly 0 F, the National Weather Service said. The temperature in Chicago dropped to -27.
Indianapolis, Indiana, measured -24 degrees; however, the subjective feeling in the open is that it is as low as -34.
The first week in January could bring the lowest temperatures ever. The temperature in Nebraska is expected to fall to minus 22F. The last time such a low temperature was recorded was 130 years ago.
“The bitter cold is going to be dangerous,” said David Eastlack, a meteorologist with the weather service. He warned residents of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa to avoid venturing outside or taking a car trip. According to Eastlack, the wind chills will be near minus 35F, a level when frostbite could occur within minutes.
The arctic air from Canada will also bring subfreezing temperatures to U.S. Gulf Coast cities such as Biloxi, Mississippi, Reuters reports.
The Mayor of Indianapolis Greg Ballard ordered that schools and businesses remain closed due to storms on Monday and Tuesday.
“Within 10 minutes you can be dead if you do not have adequate clothing,” Ballard stressed.
Meteorologists have announced that about 187 million people can sense the effects of a “Polar Vortex” an upper level low-pressure area lying near the Earth’s pole.
Icy roads will make travel difficult over much of the United States, from the south-central states of Texas and Oklahoma and eastward over Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through the New Year’s weekend, the private AccuWeather forecasting service said.