It was so cold Sunday in the Upper Midwest, and visibility was so poor in blowing snow, that church services were called off in parts of Michigan. At noon, thermometers in one North Dakota town still registered only 20 below zero.
The windy, bitterly cold weather blanketed a region from the Dakotas across much of Minnesota into Wisconsin and Michigan. Subzero temperatures at midday extended into northern Iowa, the National Weather Service said.
International Falls, Minn., the Canadian border city that’s won the trademark of “Icebox of the Nation,” was only 15 degrees below zero by noon Sunday, but the wind chill was a painful 40 below.
Snow whipped up by the bitingly cold wind created hazardous driving conditions Sunday in Michigan. State Police said the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge was closed because of whiteout conditions, and the sheriff’s office in southwest Michigan’s Cass County said visibility was less than 20 feet.
“The road conditions are just terrible. There’s been slide-offs all over and the roads are very icy,” said William Marino, a Grand Rapids weather service meteorologist.
Snow drifts also closed roads in Wisconsin and Michigan, police said.
Sunday’s noon reading at Devils Lake, N.D., was 20 below, with a wind chill of minus 38, the weather service said. On Saturday, the town warmed to a high of 13 below — with a wind chill of minus 42.
In Pennsylvania, near blizzard conditions from a snow squall caused a 68-car pileup on Interstate 81 near Hazelton, killing a woman and injuring 18 others, authorities said. Most of those hurt were being treated for minor injuries, according to a hospital.
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