{"id":6625,"date":"2019-02-01T11:37:20","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T03:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=6625"},"modified":"2019-02-04T10:13:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T02:13:00","slug":"us-midwest-gripped-by-bitterly-cold-temperatures-but-relief-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=6625","title":{"rendered":"US Midwest gripped by bitterly cold temperatures from polar vortex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


CHICAGO, Feb 1 (NNN- AGENCIES) — Brutally cold temperatures have gripped the US Midwest, causing a freeze on water supplies, power outages, cancelled flights and straining natural gas supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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US, Chicago: A general view of the city skyline of Chicago amid frigid temperatures caused by the polar vortex, a stream of air that spins around over the North Pole. Photo Courtesy of Karen I. Hirsch\/Zuma Wire\/dpa <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day in the week Thursday as temperatures dipped to record lows in several states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten deaths have been attributed to the sub-zero weather and a weekend snowstorm that deluged the same region. Many of the cold-related fatalities were in Michigan, where the governor said the death toll was still being confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travelers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water mains froze in several parts, while power supply were disrupted as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Thursday afternoon, some 1,700 flights had been cancelled in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Train services were also brought to a standstill on Wednesday but workers were restoring some of the services by Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift on Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are not done yet. We’ve got another 24 hours where the weather will be at dangerous levels,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Weather Service (NWS) said temperatures would slowly moderate, but the agency forecast wind chills Thursday would remain between -29 to -46 degrees Celsius over parts of the Upper Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago’s downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing “frost quakes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NWS said a low temperature of -29 degrees Celsius was recorded in Chicago on Thursday morning. The record low of -33 degrees Celsius was on Jan 20, 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said a historic low temperature for Illinois of -39 degrees Celsius had been reported in the town of Mt Carroll and was being reviewed before being declared a state record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record low temperatures were also reported in some towns in Iowa and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n




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CHICAGO, Feb 1 (NNN- AGENCIES) — Brutally cold temperatures have gripped the US Midwest, causing a freeze on water supplies, power outages, cancelled flights and straining natural gas supplies. Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day in the week Thursday as temperatures dipped to record lows in several states. Ten deaths have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[269],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6625"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}