The arctic blast of frigid air has followed a January storm
that dumped more than a foot (30 cm) of snow and sleet across the Northeast,
which started melting Sunday. In a Chicago suburb, a 12-year-old girl died after a snow
fort she had built after church on Sunday collapsed on her, according to the
Arlington Heights Police Department. A 9-year-old girl she was playing with was
treated for hypothermia after being dug out of the snow and was expected to
survive, police said. Temperatures fell to single-digits Fahrenheit (about -20 C)
from New York City to Boston and through northern New England and froze melting
snow late on Sunday and early Monday, said Marc Chenard at the National Weather
Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Winds up to 30
to 40 miles per hour (48-64 kph) added possibly deadly wind chill. “This is definitely dangerous, life-and-death kind of
weather happening,” Chenard said. “Minnesota and Wisconsin will see
temperatures in the negative 20s.” “Boston will be just 3 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning,
with wind chills of minus 12 or more,” he said. “New York City and DC will be
in that same range, maybe hitting the teens later today. It’ll be record or
near-record cold.” The NWS issued wind-chill advisories and warnings for more
than 10 states, from North Dakota and to East Coast metropolitan centers. High temperatures for Monday are forecast at 17 Fahrenheit
(minus 8 Celsius) for New York City and 12 F (minus 11 C) for Boston. Many Americans had the day off work on Monday, either
because of the holiday or because they are among the furloughed federal
government workers who find themselves in the longest shutdown in US history,
caused by an impasse over funding US President Donald Trump’s plans to build
more barriers on the US-Mexico border. More than 7,500 flights were delayed, mostly in New York and
New England, according to FlightAware.com, down from more than 14,000 on
Sunday. Tuesday’s weather will be only slightly warmer, Chenard
said, with temperatures reaching the low 20s Fahrenheit in the Northeast.