Bitter cold due to envelop US south as central states recover from freeze
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Polar vortex chilled central US, downing trees, blasting snow, shuttering schools and causing traffic pile-ups. The next round of bitter cold was set to envelop the southern US on Tuesday, after the first significant winter storm of the year blasted a huge swath of the country with ice, snow and wind.
The immense storm system brought disruption even to areas of the country that usually escape winter’s wrath, downing trees in some southern states, threatening a freeze in Florida and causing people in Dallas to dip deep into their wardrobes for hats and gloves.
By early Tuesday, wind-chill temperatures could dip into the teens to the low 20s Fahrenheit (as cold as -10.5C) from Texas across the gulf coast, according to the National Weather Service. A low-pressure system is then expected to form as soon as Wednesday near south Texas, bringing the potential of snow to parts of the state, including the Dallas area, as well as to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend kept much of the country east of the Rockies in its frigid grip on Monday, making many roads treacherous, forcing school closures, and causing widespread power outages and flight cancellations. Ice and snow blanketed major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the national guard was activated to help stranded motorists. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for Kansas and Missouri, where blizzard conditions brought wind gusts of up to 45mph (72km/h). The warnings extended to New Jersey into early Tuesday.
