According to the US National Weather Service, temperatures plunged as low as -48.3 degrees in northern Illinois.
Jan. 31, 2019 - Polar vortex descends on US Midwest bringing bone-chilling arctic cold (Photos)
Polar vortex descends on US Midwest bringing bone-chilling arctic cold
A deadly arctic deep freeze enveloped the US Midwest with record-breaking temperatures, triggering widespread closures of schools and businesses. According to the US National Weather Service, temperatures plunged as low as -48.3 degrees in northern Illinois, -37.2 degrees in the central part of the state and -31.6 degrees in southern Illinois. According to the Flightaware flight tracking website, snowfalls caused a flurry of cancellations and delays at Chicago's two major airports. US Postal Service had to take the rare step of suspending mail delivery service to a wide swath of the region. See the images of how residents are weathering the arctic cold.
Records have been shattered as the polar vortex unleashed the harshest cold in years on the midwestern United States during the final days of January.
Jan. 31, 2019 - By the numbers: Midwestern US endures worst of polar vortex, all-time record lows broken
By the numbers: Midwestern US endures worst of polar vortex, all-time record lows broken
After the
polar vortex plunged southward, temperatures plummeted under 20 below zero F from North Dakota to northern Illinois during the morning hours of both Wednesday and Thursday.
The low of 38 below zero recorded at Mt. Carroll, Illinois, is being reviewed by a state climate extremes committee to determine if the Illinois state record low was broken on Thursday morning. The current record is 36 below zero that was set near Congerville on Jan. 5, 1999.
Biting winds made the extreme cold more life-threatening as AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures dropped under 50 below zero.
Frostbite can occur in mere minutes on exposed skin in these conditions.
Midwest extreme cold by the numbers
-77˚F
Lowest AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature, recorded at Thief River Falls, Minnesota, on Tuesday evening.
-56˚F
The lowest actual temperature recorded in Cotton, Minnesota, on Thursday morning.
-38˚F
Low temperature recorded at Mt. Carroll, Illinois, on Thursday morning. If deemed accurate, it would be the new Illinois state record low.
8 hours
Consecutive hours of RealFeel® Temperatures under 65 below zero F in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on Tuesday.
-23˚F
Record low in Chicago on Wednesday morning, the lowest since the mid-1980s.
15 times
That temperatures have been at or under 21 below zero F in Chicago since records began in the 1870s.
14 hours
Consecutive hours of RealFeel® Temperatures under 50 below zero F in Minneapolis Tuesday evening and night.
1996
The last time temperatures were this low in Minneapolis. The city recorded a low of 28 below zero F on Wednesday morning.
94 degrees
Temperature difference between morning lows at Key West, Florida, and Key West, Iowa, on Wednesday.
9 states
In the Midwest and New England that recorded a temperature under 14 below zero (the low in Utqiagvik/Barrow, Alaska) on Thursday morning. These states were North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire.
All-time record lows broken on Thursday morning
-33˚F
Moline, Illinois (Previous record: 27 below zero from Jan. 16, 2009)
-30˚F
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Previous record: 29 below zero from Jan. 15, 2009)
-30˚F
Rockford, Illinois (Previous record: 27 below zero from Jan. 10, 1982)
Sampling of daily record lows set on Thursday morning
New record
Previous record (Year)
The intense lake-effect snow machine that has buried communities under feet of snow and created extremely difficult travel will persist into Thursday night.
January 31, 2019 - Great Lakes communities to be further buried by deadly lake-effect snow into Thursday night (Video)
Great Lakes communities to be further buried by deadly lake-effect snow into Thursday night
The
harshest air yet this winter caused snow showers and squalls to stream off the Great Lakes around the middle of the week.
At least
three fatalities have been reported in Erie County, New York, during the storm, according to officials.
Buffalo, New York, was hit hard by a persistent lake-effect band on Wednesday, with visibility reduced to one-quarter mile or less for nearly eight consecutive hours at the international airport. Visibility was as low as one-sixteenth of a mile at times.
Most arrival and departure flights from Buffalo Niagara International Airport were canceled or delayed, according to
The Buffalo News.
The airport has received more than 20 inches of snow since Tuesday. The 13.6 inches that fell alone on Wednesday set a new daily snowfall record.
Multi-vehicle accidents shut down portions of Interstate 190 and the New York State Thruway on Wednesday. The City of Buffalo issued a travel ban until 7 a.m. EST Thursday.
Additional disruptions to travel and daily routines are anticipated into Thursday night across parts of western New York. Several inches can fall within one hour.
By the time the snow winds down early Friday, the region can be buried by 2-4 feet of snow with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 6 feet.
As the lake-effect shuts off, a
separate area of snow will sweep across the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic at the end of the week.