Killer 'Polar Vortex' freeze in the US will start to thaw tonight, experts predict

 
Plunging temperatures: Wintery scenes in Chicago
A pair of photographers shoot images of the Chicago skyline near North Avenue Beach as cold temperatures remain with wind chills nearing minus 30 Fahrenheit on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, in Chicago. Dangerously cold polar air snapped decades-old records as it
David Gardner8 January 2014

A polar freeze still held much of America in its icy grip today as plummeting temperatures claimed 21 lives.

The low pressure system from the Polar Vortex spread from the northern US across the Midwest and the south leaving widespread travel chaos in its wake.

Windchill in parts of Georgia yesterday was colder than many cities in Alaska.

At least 21 deaths were blamed on the severe weather since snow and bitter cold started punishing the US late last week.

They included a 90-year-old woman who was found dead near her stranded car in Ohio and a one-year-old boy who was killed in Missouri when the car he was in collided with a snow plow.

Deaths were also reported in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. They included people who succumbed to exposure and had heart attacks shovelling snow.

However, forecasters are predicting that a thaw is on the way within the next 24 hours as temperatures edge up.

All 50 states saw freezing temperatures at some point yesterday, including Hawaii where it was -8C (18F) on top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano.

The big chill started in the midwest over the weekend, and by yesterday it covered about half of the country.

In New York City, the high was expected to be -12C (10F), and in Boston, around -8C (18F).

Homeless shelters were overwhelmed by people seeking shelter from the cold, which the National Weather Service warned was severe enough in North Dakota and Minnesota to freeze human flesh in five minutes.

Schools and businesses closed yesterday and thousands of flights were cancelled for the second day running. Trajns ground to a halt and powerful winds pushed snow into desert-like dunes that blocked major motorways.

A 118-year-old record was shattered in Central Park in New York, where it was the coldest ever January 7.

Airlines and airports continued to suffer under the strain of the cold. although conditions appeared to be slowly improving and temperatures were expected to return to normal by tonight in almost everywhere except northern Minnesota.

More than 2,400 flights were axed yesterday and another 3,400 flights were delayed, according to the air traffic monitoring site Flightaware.com.

Most of the cancellations were in major East Coast hubs such as Chicago, Boston and New York. By comparison, the nation’s airlines canceled about 4,000 flights on Monday and delayed another 8,000.

United Airlines still was operating reduced schedules at its hubs last week, partly because it was too dangerous for ramp workers to be loading bags outside in the extreme cold.

JetBlue said that by mid afternoon yesterday, it was operating a full schedule of flights after suspending flights on Monday.

‘Aside from the bone-chilling extremely cold temperatures and wind chill factors, the most widespread impact in the state is school closures,’ said Ken Davis, spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Schools were closed in Atlanta and in 66 of the state’s 159 counties, 15 of which had also opened warming shelters, said Mr Davis.

He said there had been no reports of weather-related fatalities, but that officials closed schools primarily to prevent children from waiting for buses outside, where they might get frostbite.

It was so cold in Kentucky that an escaped prisoner turned himself in to get back in the warm.

Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said 42-year-old Robert Vick said he wanted to turn himself in and escape the arctic air.

Atlanta shivered through the coldest Tuesday since 1996. Low temperature records were broken in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Indiana Governor Mike Pence issued disaster declarations.

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