More than 160 million people were under winter weather warnings or advisories Sunday as a hazardous mix of Arctic cold and wind, along with snow and sleet, pummeled much of the country.
A cold front spilling out of Canada is responsible for dangerously cold temperatures from the Pacific Northwest all the way east to the Rust Belt, the National Weather Service said.
Roughly 110 million people were under a windchill warning or advisory, the service said, with record lows expected. In Montana and across the Dakotas, wind chills could reach minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, according to the forecast.
The Rockies, central Plains and Mississippi Valley are expected to log wind chills of minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The extreme cold will stick around for several days and bring record-breaking low temperatures to the Midwest and deep South into next week, the weather service said.
The mix of sleet and rain that caused power outages in Oregon and made travel dangerous in the Pacific Northwest earlier this weekend was mostly finished by Sunday. But a similar wintry precipitation is hitting the mid-South, the weather service said.
Anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of snow is likely to fall on parts of the Ozarks and into the Tennessee Valley by Tuesday, with a smaller accumulation possibly reaching the lower Mississippi Valley.
Winter storm warnings are in effect for much of that region, the weather service said.
Utah and western Colorado will also get heavy snow as the system over the Pacific Northwest moves east, the weather service said.
In the Northeast, the Arctic blast was feeding a heavy lake effect snowfall in western New York, and will also produce Sunday snow squalls over parts of the region and northern Mid-Atlantic.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had declared a state of emergency for western parts of the state in anticipation of the weekend’s blizzard-like conditions.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Buffalo area until 7 a.m. local time on Monday.
The Buffalo Bills’ wild-card game on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers was moved to Monday in an effort to keep people safe during the dangerous weather.
New York City, which hasn’t had significant snowfall in nearly 700 days, may break its snow drought this week.
Snow is expected to arrive along the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast late Monday and into Tuesday, bringing anywhere from 2 to 3 inches from Washington, D.C., to Boston, according to the forecast.
In New England, heavy rain caused widespread coastal flooding Saturday. Portland, Maine, set a new flood record when its noon high tide peaked at just over 14 feet, according to the local National Weather Service station.
The old port section of town took on some water, and flooding closed part of a road, said Portland meteorologist Mike Cempa. Flooded roads were also reported along the coast from Portland down to New Hampshire, he said.
More than 2,300 flights were canceled within, into or out of the U.S. over the weekend, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Another 9,000 flights were delayed. Weather-related problems snarled traffic at most major airports.
The extreme cold will even cast a chill on Iowa’s presidential caucuses. Forecasts show temperatures in the state capital of Des Moines to be around zero on Monday, the day of the caucuses. Temperatures could fall even lower by 7 p.m. local time, when Republican precinct meetings convene, with winds making it feel even colder.
Write to Ginger Adams Otis at [email protected]
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