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posted by martyb on Tuesday January 29 2019, @04:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the Brrrrrrr dept.

'Minimize talking' outside: Polar vortex bears down on North as Deep South braces for snow

A major snowstorm that lashed parts of the Midwest on Monday will give way to record-smashing cold this week as a powerful polar vortex drives a deep freeze across the eastern half of the nation, forecasters said.

A snowstorm will wreak havoc across the Deep South on Tuesday.

The bitter cold will bring below-zero temperatures to a quarter of the continental USA. The National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa, warned that "this is the coldest air many of us will have ever experienced." The service said that if people go outside, they should "avoid taking deep breaths, and minimize talking."

Schools could be closed in Iowa as buses may struggle to start, the weather service said.

Wednesday could be the coldest day ever recorded in Chicago – a forecast high of 14 below zero, the weather service said. There's a chance the Windy City will break its all-time coldest temperature record of 27 degrees below zero. Chicago's famous Brookfield Zoo will be closed Wednesday and Thursday for only the fourth time in its 85-year history.

"Some locations in the Midwest will be below zero continuously for 48-72 hours," according to AccuWeather meteorologist Mike Doll.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/28/cold-weather-polar-vortex-drive-record-smashing-cold-across-nation/2698747002/

Chicago Faces Colder-Than-Arctic Blast Nearing All-Time Record

It could be warmer above the Arctic Circle than in Chicago by Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to fall in the Windy City to 20-to-25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus-29 to minus-32 Celsius).

New York and Washington will be warmer, with a bit of snow.

Chicago is expected to approach an all-time record low of minus 27, set in 1985, according to Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Wind chill, meanwhile, could feel closer to minus-40 to minus-45.

"That is pretty amazing," Hurley said by telephone on Monday. But there's hope ahead for the weekend, when the cold is forecast to retreat across the U.S., with temperatures returning to seasonal levels or warmer, Hurley added.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-28/chicago-faces-colder-than-arctic-blast-nearing-all-time-record


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheFool on Tuesday January 29 2019, @05:30PM (4 children)

    by TheFool (7105) on Tuesday January 29 2019, @05:30PM (#793629)

    It's not because they are weak, it's because the FIBs don't know how to drive even when there isn't ice on the roads.
    (I kid, I kid... maybe)

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 29 2019, @07:31PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 29 2019, @07:31PM (#793691) Journal

    I'm not kidding. I've watched people in every city drive stupidly. Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles. Give them a little rain, and they can make excuses to pile cars up. Give them a bit of ice, and the excuses pile up faster than the cars do.

    When those reflective markers beside the highways, mounted on 8 foot fenceposts, disappear under the snow, and traffic continues to move at 70 mph, you know that the wannabes have been weeded out.

    • (Score: 2) by dltaylor on Tuesday January 29 2019, @10:08PM

      by dltaylor (4693) on Tuesday January 29 2019, @10:08PM (#793790)

      In the northern (US) plains (Eastern Montana and Wyoming, the Dakotas, ...), it's not so much that the snow is higher than the markers, but that it's blowing horizontally in such density that seeing them is about the only way to know where the road is supposed to be.

      "Once in a generation"? Went from -12F high in Missoula, MT a year ago to visit a relative in Bismark, ND at -20F high. Even the Harley-Davidson dealers in Missoula and Mandan were open, with 56" of snow in the yard.

    • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday January 30 2019, @03:41AM (1 child)

      by coolgopher (1157) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @03:41AM (#793888)

      Yeah you haven't really lived until you've had to drive without side markers or existing tracks, running mostly on intuition on where it'd make sense for the road to be =)

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 30 2019, @03:21PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 30 2019, @03:21PM (#794074) Journal

        I'll admit, though, that I have given up a few times. When that snow is being blown into your headlights, fast and furious, and maybe some of it fresh, and the rest of it being blown from only God knows where - I can just give up. Generally, people with good vision are prone to white outs. But, it can get so bad, even I white out, with my poor vision. It's like fog, in that you just can't beat it.

        So, you park the truck, on what you think is the shoulder, kick back and relax. Don't even look out the window, because it makes your headache worse. Then have a heart attack when the two snowplows come up, one on each side of you!! I don't know how the hell snow plow drivers can see to do their jobs, but they get it done!!

        Did the exact same thing on Soldier Summit, and then on San Antonia mountain.