CHICAGO - Icy, snow-covered roads and high winds made travel treacherous Sunday from the Dakotas and Michigan to Missouri as much of the nation braced for the next winter wallop: a dangerous cold that could break records.
A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a “polar vortex” was expected to suppress temperatures in more than half of the continental U.S. starting into today and Tuesday, with wind-chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.
It was 5 degrees at kickoff Sunday afternoon inside sold-out Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., for an NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, one of the coldest ever played.
“We suited up, we brought all the snowboarding gear we use … and added to it,” said 49ers fan Jeff Giardinelli of Fresno, Calif. “Without the wind, which isn’t here yet, we’re good. When it gets windy, we’ll be ready for it.”
The forecast is extreme: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D.; minus 31 in International Falls, Minn.; and minus 15 in Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills - what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature - could drop into the minus 50s and 60s. Northeastern Montana was warned of wind chills up to 59 below zero.
“It’s just a dangerous cold,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye in Missouri.
Several Midwestern states received up to a foot of new snow Sunday. The National Weather Service said snowfall at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago totaled more than 11 inches as of 6 p.m. Sunday - the most since the Feb. 2, 2011, storm.
St. Louis had about a foot of snow, and northern Indiana had at least 8 inches. Central Illinois braced for 8 to 10 inches, and southern Michigan could see up to 15 inches.
Officials closed several Illinois roadways because of drifting snow and warned residents to stay inside. Roads in the Midwest were particularly dangerous, and officials in Missouri said it was too cold for rock salt to be very effective.
Authorities also urged people to check on elderly and disabled relatives and neighbors.
In Chicago, temperatures were expected to bottom out around minus 15 overnight, likely setting a daily record, National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Fenelon said. Earlier Sunday, temperatures sank to minus 20 and lower in northern Minnesota and Grand Forks, N.D.
It hasn’t been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the country. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly at 15 to 30 below zero.
Lorna West, a 43-year-old student and consultant from Columbus, Ohio, said she doesn’t think people unaccustomed to such weather are ready for what’s coming.
A Chicago native, she said thermal underwear, lots of layers and “Eskimo coats” with zipped hoods to block the wind were the norm growing up.
“And don’t go out if you don’t have to,” she said.
In Michigan, residents jammed stores to stock up on supplies.
“I made my husband go grocery shopping last night,” said Kim Tarnopol, 46, of the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods.
Travel problems started early Sunday.
Airlines scrapped more than 2,500 flights across the U.S. and ran late with thousands of others as the arctic cold front and new snow in the Midwest added to disruptions from last week’s Northeast storm.
About 1,300 flights had been canceled Sunday at O’Hare and Midway international airports in Chicago, aviation officials said. “Heavy snow” was falling at midday local time, and a winter storm warning was in effect, the National Weather Service said on its website.
Chicago-based United Airlines and New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp. were among the carriers trying to rebook passengers who missed connections or who found themselves stranded as their trips were scrubbed.
There were cancellations at Logan International Airport in Boston and Tennessee’s Memphis and Nashville international airports.
Industry data tracker FlightAware.com tallied 2,524 cancellations in the U.S. and 3,530 delayed flights at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The count from the Houston-based company includes all trips, not just those affected by weather.
United, a unit of United Continental Holdings Inc., and its commuter partners were among the hardest hit by cancellations, the FlightAware data showed. United had 379 canceled flights today, or 15 percent of its main jet operations, while JetBlue’s 455 delays were 48 percent of its schedule, according to FlightAware.
United said on its website that disruptions were possible in the New York region, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis and Charlotte, N.C. All those cities are home to hub airports for major U.S. airlines.
In New York City, a plane from Toronto landed at Kennedy International Airport and then slid into snow on a taxiway, halting flights at the airport for two hours and causing residual delays. The airport temporarily suspended operations because of icy runways.
“It could have been worse, a much worse scenario,” Jordan Houlton said after he emerged from Delta Connection 4100 along with 34 other passengers and crew members about 90 minutes after the slippery diversion of the CRJ2 aircraft.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Kathleen Bergen said there was no immediate report of injuries after the plane landed safely at 8 a.m.
The plane was towed to a gate with passengers on board, she said.
School was called off today for the entire state of Minnesota, as well as cities and districts in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana and Iowa, among others.
Chicago Public School officials reversed course late in the day Sunday, canceling classes today ahead of the expected bitter cold. The change in plans came amid criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union, though officials said they made the decision after they “evaluated the situation again.”
Chicago Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said closing is “in the best interest of our students.”
Southern states are bracing for possible record temperatures, too, with single-digit highs expected Tuesday in Georgia and Alabama.
Authorities in two regions of Alabama said exposure to cold weather likely contributed to the deaths of two women.
Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely said that 59-year old Sonya Todd was dressed in a light sweater and sweat pants when she was found near a road in Tanner on Saturday.
Authorities in Phenix City, about 225 miles southeast of Tanner, said an elderly woman there also likely died because of exposure to the elements.
Russell County Coroner Arthur Sumbry Jr. said a woman was found outside on Friday morning and was later pronounced dead at the Midtown Medical Center. Her identity has not yet been released.
Forecasters have issued several winter weather warnings.
Temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s in parts of Florida on Tuesday. But Florida Citrus Mutual spokesman Andrew Meadows said it must be at 28 degrees or lower four hours straight for fruit to freeze badly.
In western Kentucky, which could see 1 to 3 inches of snow, Smithland farmer David Nickell moved extra hay to the field and his animals out of the wind. He’d also stocked up on batteries and gas and loaded up the pantry and freezer. The 2009 ice storm that paralyzed the state and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people is fresh in his mind.
“We are hoping this isn’t going to be more than a few days of cold weather, but we did learn with the ice storm that you can wake up in the 19th century and you need to be able to not only survive, but be comfortable and continue with your basic day-to-day functions,” Nickell said.
Northern Arkansas counties near the Missouri border saw between a half-inch to nearly 5 inches of snow Sunday, said John Lewis, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
The heaviest fell in Benton County, but areas toward Harrison had about an inch or two of snow, he said.
“The main headliner is going to be the cold air,” he said.
In Little Rock, temperatures dipped nearly 40 degrees throughout the day Sunday, ending with low temperatures in the low teens.
The top two rows of counties closest to the Missouri border were bracing for temperatures to fall below zero Sunday night. Some temperatures were expected to break decade-long records.
On Sunday, meteorologists issued wind-chill warnings for the state’s northern counties, saying that it could get as low as 20 degrees below zero. In central Arkansas, wind chills were predicted to be as low as 5 degrees below zero.
Heading into the workweek, forecasters said the arctic mass should leave the state Wednesday as warmer air tries to make its way back into Arkansas. That will likely bring a wintry mix to the northern half of the state and rain to central and south Arkansas, Lewis said.
“It’s something to keep an eye on,” Lewis said.
By the end of the week, Arkansans will see above-normal temperatures with high temperatures in the 40s and 50s statewide, he said.
By midafternoon Sunday, three flights from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field headed to cities - including Chicago and Detroit - were canceled, though some airlines delayed flights to the area. The airport listed at least six delays for outgoing flights, including those to Denver, Atlanta and Chicago, according to its website.
Four inbound flights - two from Chicago and one each from Detroit and Houston - were canceled. Five inbound flights were delayed, the website said.
Information for this article was contributed by Kerry Lester, Tammy Webber, Julie Smyth, Tom Coyne, Jim Salter, Brett Barrouquere, Verena Dobnik, David N. Goodman, Christine Amario, Verena Dobnik and staff members of The Associated Press; by Aziza Musa of the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, and by Ed Dufner, Debarati Roy, Dan Hart and Brian K. Sullivan of Bloomberg News.
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Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/06/2014