Polar vortex set to bring record low temperatures across much of US

Monday, January 6, 2014

Polar vortex set to bring record low temperatures across much of US

• Midwest, north-east and south face cold not seen in decades
• Chill prompts school closures and dangerous travel conditions

Associated Press in Chicago
theguardian.com, Sunday 5 January 2014 11.52 EST

Snowbound garden gnome — A garden gnome sits in snow up to its chin on Sunday in St. Louis. Photograph: Jeff Roberson/AP

Temperatures not seen in years are likely to set records in the coming days across the midwest, north-east and south, creating dangerous travel conditions and prompting church and school closures.
A "polar vortex" will affect more than half of the continental US, starting Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. The vortex is an anticlockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air, and is behind the startling forecast: -25F (-31C) in Fargo, North Dakota, -31F (-35C) in International Falls, Minnesota, and -15F (-26C) in Indianapolis and Chicago.
The bitterly cold temperatures pushed into northern states on Sunday morning. The National Weather Service reported a temperature of -9F (-23C) in Bismarck, North Dakota, and-21F (-29.5C) at Duluth, Minnesota. At the height of the cold, wind chills may reach 50, 60 or even 70 below zero in fahrenheit (-45.5, 51 or even 56.7C).
"It's just a dangerous cold," NWS meteorologist Butch Dye said on Sunday morning in Missouri.
Snow preceded the polar air and was expected to fall throughout much of Sunday from Michigan to Kentucky. Forecasts predicted up to 1ft in eastern Missouri and parts of central Illinois, several inches in western Tennessee and 1-3in in Kentucky.
The weather created travel problems. In New York City, a plane from Toronto landed at JFK International Airport and then slid into snow on a taxiway. No injuries were reported, but the airport temporarily suspended operations for domestic and international flights because of icy runways.
Mike Duell, of the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com, said on Saturday to expect delays and flight cancellations. "For some of them, they run into limitations on the aircraft. They're only certified to take off at temperatures so low so if they get into a particular cold front it can prevent them from being able to legally take off," he said. "In a lot of cases, it's just ice."

Read More Here