Temperatures on Monday crashed to record lows — well below zero — as a huge mass of arctic air blustered southward, keeping people indoors and leading some cities to open shelters.
The cold and remnants of the weekend blizzard that accompanied it closed hundreds of schools on the northern Plains.
The St. Francis House shelter for the homeless in Sioux Falls, S.D., where Monday’s low was 11 below zero, was a lifesaver, said Richard Byrd.
“I would be probably huddled up right now under a bunch of blankets because this was my only alternative. If it wasn’t for the St. Francis house, I’d be in a scary, scary situation,” he said.
Major highways in northern and western Minnesota and wide areas of North and South Dakota had reopened after Sunday’s blizzard dropped as much as 14 inches of snow, halting travel.
Monday morning lows in North Dakota included 25 below zero in Dickinson and Williston and meteorologists said the wind would make it feel like more than 40 below Monday.
Minnesotans claim to be accustomed to such weather. “It’s not so bad; I actually kind of like it,” Rory Strange of Duluth said as ice crystals covered his eyebrows after he spent a couple of hours clearing snow off his sidewalk and helping neighbors.
Monday’s cold was an abrupt change for many areas. Illinois had unseasonable warmth Sunday with temperatures in the 50s, but Monday morning lows were in the single digits across the northern part of the state. Rockford had a low of just 3, and 20 mph wind made it feel like 18 below zero, the National Weather Service said.
Temperatures dropped 30 degrees in about an hour in Missouri when the cold front struck Sunday.
Thermometers read 31 below Monday in Glasgow, Mont., and the wind chill was 45 below, the weather service said.
The Texas Panhandle had lows in the single digits and Goodland, Kan., registered a record low of 10 below zero.
Even western Washington state had freezing temperatures and the city of Seattle opened severe weather shelters for the homeless.
Other record lows Monday included 19 below zero in Denver, where the previous Dec. 15 record of minus 6 was set in 1951; and minus 16 at Sidney, Neb. Havre, Mont., registered a record 33 below Sunday, the weather service said.
Some Denver school districts reported problems getting their buses started in the cold.
The leading edge of the advancing cold air kicked off snow flurries as far south as central Arizona and the Texas Panhandle. Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe welcomed about a foot of snow that fell at higher elevations of California’s Sierra Nevada, and some mountain pass highways were closed in Washington. Heavy rain threatened mud slides in southern California.
Numerous schools were closed in Oregon, where snow made roads so slippery Sunday that chains were required on all highways in the Portland metro area. “We don’t normally do that,” said Dave Thompson, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman. “That’s how serious it is.”
The weather service posted winter storm warnings Monday for parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, northern Arizona, New Mexico, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
