Cold Breaks Records in Northern Third of U.S.

Arctic air hammered away at the record books across the northern third of the nation again Monday, while ice kept major highways closed in the South.

Overnight lows colder than 20 below zero were reported across Montana, northern Wyoming, North Dakota and northern Minnesota, including a reading of 45 below zero at West Yellowstone, Mont., according to the National Weather Service.

Subzero readings stretched from the Northern Plateau to the northern Appalachians.

For Wyoming, it was the seventh straight day of subzero temperatures.

Record Lows in 12 Cities

Record low temperatures were reported in at least a dozen cities, including Yakima, Wash., at 7 below zero, and Newark, N.J., at 7 degrees above zero. Monday’s low of 12 below at Boise, Ida., shattered a record that had stood since 1899, and the minus 30 at Sheridan, Wyo., erased a record set only in 1982.

The low of 28 below zero at Winnemucca, Nev., was a record for the entire month. Records were broken in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Ohio and Indiana also.

Schools and businesses were closed because of the cold. Roads resembled skating rinks in Alabama, New Mexico, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana.

Mississippi Gov. Bill Allain called a holiday for state workers in non-essential positions, who had also got a day off Friday because of ice and snow.

The cold and ice have been blamed for 61 deaths since last Wednesday.

Snow fell from Arizona and Utah across the Central Plains to Missouri and Iowa, with 10 inches of new snow at Utah’s Snowbasin Ski Resort, nine inches at Flagstaff, Ariz., and seven inches at Goodland, Kan.

In northern Arizona, Flagstaff already had 28 inches of snow on the ground, with more expected during the night.

For the third time since Friday, light snow that melted as it hit the ground was sighted early Monday at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, where it previously had not snowed since 1976.

Freezing rain spread ice up to an inch thick in spots across northern Texas during the morning, causing dozens of traffic accidents and closing down U.S. 75 in the Sherman area.

Four inches of snow fell on northern Kansas, with more expected, and highways were reported snowpacked across the state.

Similar road conditions existed throughout northern New Mexico and the state’s mountain areas. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported “extremely hazardous traveling” throughout the state.

Temperatures edged upward in southern Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, but icy roads still made travel difficult in the northern parts of those states.

Mississippi State University reopened classes Monday and officials noted that 90 students had been treated at the school’s health center over the weekend, mostly for recreational accidents on ice and snow.

Continuing power outages caused by last week’s ice in Tennessee forced officials to evacuate the Grundy County Hospital, but power was restored later Monday. The Sequatchie Valley Electric Cooperative said that about 30% of its customers in the county were without power.

In Coffee County, Tenn., about 95% of the homes were still without electricity, and sheriff’s deputies were shuttling residents to shelters. In Sewanee, about 2,800 persons were still without power.

In Florida, firefighters got a respite as overcast skies, heavy dew and fog combined to reduce the threat of new wildfires that have burned more than 123,000 acres of grass and woodlands.