The historic Arctic blast that has brought record low temperatures to 70 per cent of the US, left six dead and brutalized 200 million people is expected to get worse throughout Wednesday.
Multiple car pile-ups have occurred across several states, including Ohio, Kansas and Michigan, where six people have died.
On Tuesday, 21-year-old Ciearra Money Audrey Brown died in a 16-car pileup on Interstate 80 in Ohio, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Several other people were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals.
The Eaton County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan said two women, ages 81 and 64, and a 57-year-old man were killed Monday in a two-vehicle crash caused by poor road conditions.
In Kansas, the Highway Patrol said an 8-year-old girl died in a three-vehicle wreck.
Multiple people were also injured when about 50 vehicles were involved in a huge pileup on Interstate 80 just outside Youngstown in Ohio on Tuesday morning.
Despite the already dangerous roadways and freezing temperatures in some states, forecasters are predicting that the weather is only expected to get worse for much of the country throughout the day on Wednesday. About 70 per cent of the US population saw temperatures at or below freezing Wednesday morning.
The historic Arctic blast that has brought record low temperatures to 70 per cent of the US, left six dead and brutalized 200 million people is expected to get worse throughout Wednesday. Snow billows from a snowmaker on Tuesday that was seen creating piles in La Crosse, Wisconsin
Despite the already dangerous roadways and freezing temperatures in some states, forecasters are predicting that the weather is only expected to get worse for much of the country throughout the day on Wednesday. A car is seen driving in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday
About 70 per cent of the US population saw temperatures at or below freezing Wednesday morning. Kaiden Rogers shovels snow from his driveway on Tuesday in Marshfield, Vermont
A student is seen walking through a snow-covered University of Tennessee campus on Tuesday
Charles Stevens cleans the snow off his vehicle in on Tuesday Detroit, Michigan, where a record daily maximum snowfall of 8.5 inches at Detroit Metro Airport on Monday broke a record that had stood for nearly 94 years
The arctic conditions will ‘culminate this morning with more than a hundred locations expected to tie or set new low temperature records,’ the National Weather Service said Wednesday morning.
Forecasters said more than 240 million people are under winter warnings, watches and advisories. Weather officials projected even lower temperatures for late Wednesday and early Thursday at some locations in New England and upstate New York.
Arctic air has been moving across the eastern two-thirds of the US, bringing snow from the Midwest to the Northeast.
Record low temperatures were recorded Tuesday around New York City; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and parts of Ohio.
‘Mother nature is feeling 100!! 100 weather observing stations across the U.S. are forecast to tie or break their record low temperatures tomorrow morning!’ the NWS tweeted Tuesday night.
And they were right. Records were broken Wednesday morning in Burlington and as far south as Alabama and Mississippi.
Most locations are forecast to begin warming by Thursday afternoon. New York City is expected to approach 50 degrees on Friday.
The mid-autumn taste of winter brought record single-digit temperatures to Chicago and environs; set snowfall records in Buffalo and Detroit; dusted cars with snow in Memphis, Tennessee; and froze lakes in Minnesota weeks earlier than usual.
A massive 50 car pile-up on an Ohio highway was caused by whiteout conditions and snowy weather brought by the Arctic blast on Tuesday
Multiple people were injured when about 50 vehicles were involved in the huge pileup on Interstate 80 just outside Youngstown in Ohio on Tuesday morning
Authorities say the snowy conditions resulted in at least two deaths on other Ohio roads on Tuesday in two crashes unrelated to the 50 car pile-up
In Missouri, rescuers responded to a car accident that showed a car dangling from a cliff after the driver lost control on the slippery road. The driver had to be pulled through the windshield to safety
Cars heading north on Carter Street in Irondequoit, New York, had to drive around a car that got stuck in the road Tuesday morning
Much of the snow that was supposed to fall in the Midwest has come down and now it’s time for the record-breaking cold. Pictured is a Metra train traveling over burning tracks that were set afire in Chicago on Tuesday
The roughly 10 inches of snow in Buffalo and Detroit on Tuesday morning was a record depth for the time of year, weather service records show.
Areas of Vermont and Maine saw similar totals.
‘This is an air mass that’s more typical for the middle of January than mid-November,’ National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Kevin Birk said in Chicago, where Tuesday morning’s low of 7 degrees broke the previous record of 8, set in 1986.
‘It is pretty much about the coldest we can be this time of year (and) it could break records all over the region.’
Cold temperature records have been broken in two of Pennsylvania’s biggest cities as a bitter cold snap continues to batter the state.
The NWS says the temperature at Pittsburgh International Airport dropped to 12 degrees just before 7am Wednesday. That topped a record for November 13 that had been set in 1911.
Meanwhile, the temperature dipped to 23 degrees at Philadelphia International Airport early Wednesday, breaking a record for the date set in 1996.
At least six cities in Kansas set new record lows Tuesday, led by Garden City, which dropped to minus 1, breaking the record of 7 set just last year. Records also fell in Wichita, Salina, Russell, Dodge City and Medicine Lodge.
‘Mother nature is feeling 100!! 100 weather observing stations across the U.S. are forecast to tie or break their record low temperatures tomorrow morning!’ the NWS tweeted Tuesday night. And they were right. Records were broken Wednesday morning in Burlington and as far south as Alabama and Mississippi
The NWS also tweeted out these graphics, which show a comparison of the previous record lows from November 12, 1911, to the new record lows on November 12, 2019
About 70 per cent of the US population is expected to see temperatures at or below freezing Wednesday morning
Forecasters said more than 240 million people are under winter warnings, watches and advisoriesm (depicted above)
In St Louis, the mercury dipped to 11 degrees, breaking a record for the date that had stood since 1911.
Warming shelters in Memphis offered relief from a reading of 21 degrees, also a record low for the date.
Schools and businesses as far south as the Gulf Coast states opened late or closed Tuesday because of the unusual cold.
About 20 school systems delayed opening across north Alabama under the threat of wintry precipitation, including all the public schools around Huntsville.
Even more opened late or closed in Tennessee, and a handful of businesses and schools opened late in Georgia.
The dip to 8 degrees in Indianapolis gave the city its earliest recorded fall temperature in the single digits. The closest similar reading was 11 degrees recorded on November 3, 1951.
Farther north, heavy lake-effect snow piled more than 10 inches high near Goshen.
In Chicago, a plane landing Monday at O’Hare International Airport slid across the runway.
No one was injured. More than 1,400 flights at O’Hare and Midway International Airport were canceled after more than 3 inches of snow fell.
In some areas, the mercury fell quickly. Temperatures in Denver climbed past 70 degrees over the weekend only to fall to 14 degrees early Monday.
This is the terrifying moment an American Airlines plane is seen sliding off the runway at the O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Monday morning