Winter Weather Sends Arctic Lows East, South
Arctic blast is so massive, frost can be found as far south as the Gulf Coast.
Jan. 15, 2009 — -- Teeth-chattering cold weather is edging east today as much of the Midwest remains in a deep subzero freeze for a third day.
Readings this morning could hover near 40 below zero as far east as Maine today. And in the Midwest, Iowans were warned that temperatures could drop as far as 27 below zero, matching a Jan. 15 record set in 1972.
In Michigan, the community of Pellston, in the northern Lower Peninsula, and Big Rapids, in the central Lower Peninsula, hit minus 21 degrees today.
The air temperature was 29 degrees below zero in Glenwood, Minn., this morning, with the wind chill making it a staggering 54 degrees below zero.
It was 20 degrees below zero at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but the wind chill made it feel like 37 below zero. In southwest Ohio, Butler County reopened its former jail as an emergency shelter, with room for about 40 people to have a blanket, meal and shower, said Lt. Nick Fischer of the sheriff's office. Fischer said the county will make room for more if needed.
Around Ohio, blowing snow grounded at least two medical helicopters called to transport accident victims. At the site of a wreck on Interstate 75 near Bowling Green, an ambulance had to drive two people to hospitals in Toledo.
The mercury hovering around zero Wednesday didn't faze truck driver Gary Jacobs, 49, of Barre, Vt., who was bundled in five layers — T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, sweat shirt, hooded sweat shirt and coat, in addition to snow pants, boots and a knit cap.
