Posted on 01/04/2014 7:33:23 PM PST by Windflier
Experts have warned that Friday's freezing temperatures were simply a warm-up and that this weekend will bring a big chill for 140 million people - almost half the nation - that could prove fatal for the unprepared - and will continue through the winter.
With the Northeast still reeling from the huge storm that dumped as much as two-feet of snow across the region and was responsible for the deaths of 16 people, a new weather system is threatening to bring record low temperatures to the Midwest as a polar vortex barrels over the United States.
'It's the mother lode of cold air,' said Weather Channel coordinating meteorologist Tom Moore. 'On the heels of what will be the coldest air of the season, will be dangerous, life-threatening winds.'
Because of the winds, 'It may feel as cold as negative 50 to negative 60 on Sunday night over sections of the north-central states,' the National Weather Service said to NBC News. 'In those conditions, frost bite sets in on exposed skin within five minutes.'
Moore said that as the freakishly cold weather hits the region, authorities need to act fast to avoid a human catastrophe because of the chill.
'Anybody living out on the streets needs to be rounded up and put into a shelter,' said Moore to MSNBC News.
'The repercussions ... could be deadly, and I'm afraid we're going to see cases like that.'
The temperature predictions are startling: 25 below zero in Fargo, North Dakota, minus 31 in International Falls, Minnesota, and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago.
The so-called 'polar vortex' will send cold air piled up at the North Pole down to the U.S., funneling it as far south as the Gulf Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Brrrrr.....
I guess a “hockey stick” would really come in handy.
LOL!
Why is this news in the UK?
Why can’t we tap into those ‘millions of degrees’ of heat in the center of the Earth that Al Gore told us about?
Something similar hit southern PA exactly twenty years ago in 1994.
On a morning with the low about -20F I watched the steam cloud from the local paper mill just hold motionless over the town in a windless arctic clear blue sky.
In the town itself there was steady snow precipatating from the cloud. Inches of it! Outside of town, brilliant sunshine.
Stay safe and warm, FRiends.
We need everyone to keep their SUVs running 8 hours a day and maybe frequently spray a little deodorant on your armpits. We need some “global warming”. Bad!
Sorry, that would only warm the earth even more than it is now. Haven't you any compassion for those poor sweltering polar bears?
Meanie.
FYI
They’re doing that in Iceland- most of the power there is geothermal.
Globull warming. Brrrrrrr.
I HATE the use of the wind chill factor and ‘feels like’ to describe the actual temperature. Just tell me the dang temperature...
Or a few thermometers that aren't strategically placed near rooftop air conditioners, or on airport tarmacs.
We fascinate them.
Imagine how cold it would be if it weren't for gorebull warming.
Both of my 8 cylinder global warmers have been doing their part, but they’re clear down here in Texas. Sorry...
My heart goes out to a lot of people who have to face this cold spell.
I get confused with all that too. I've resorted to just poking my head outside to figure out what the day's going to be like.
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