NEW YORK — Two people froze to death, including one woman whos frozen body was found on a driveway, as an Arctic blast hit the northern U.S., dropping temperatures as low as minus 36 degrees.
The wind chill in some areas of New England was expected to make it feel as cold as 50 degrees below zero.
..Schools in western and northeastern Pennsylvania, across upstate New York and parts of Vermont and New Hampshire closed their doors or delayed openings to protect students.
In upstate New York, the National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and warnings for much of the region on Monday, including the Adirondacks where the low was 36 below in Saranac Lake early Monday morning.
The Arctic temperatures led Amtrak to suspend rail service Monday morning between Albany and New York City because the extreme cold affected signals and switches. Amtrak hoped to resume limited service between the two cities later Monday. Other rail lines are still running.
In Montpelier, Vt., it was 21 below at 7 a.m.
"Snot-freezing cold," was how Kelly Walsh, 28, described it, walking home from an auto parts store after buying a new battery for her car, which wouldn't start Monday morning.
"I usually really like it. Today is a bit of nuisance," she said.
Others agreed.
Will Forest, a 53-year-old web designer who was walking to work, called the cold "indescribable."
"I spent the summer in Dallas, Texas, and you can only experience the heat when you're there," he said. "Trying to explain it to people here is impossible. Conversely, this kind of cold, to try to explain to someone down there, you have to experience it. But it's also a really good filter, because if we didn't have this cold, everybody would want to live here and it wouldn't be the place it is."
What did he wear to prepare? "I put on two socks, a fleece and a desire to move very quickly."
Temperatures were projected to fall well below freezing across the area, including New York as a high-pressure area builds over the region.
"This is the coldest air we've had in about two years," said Michael Hill, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Caribou, Maine.
A wind chill made it feel like a few degrees below zero Monday morning as these folks waited for a bus in New York City. In a series of advisories, the NWS warned of "bitterly cold wind chills" taking temperatures to between 15 and 20 below zero in parts of the Hudson Valley and northwestern New Jersey.
"The frigid conditions will be dangerous to those venturing outside," it said, adding that people who did not take precautions like wearing hats, gloves and layers of warm clothes were at risk of frostbite and hypothermia.
A wind chill advisory was also in effect until 11 a.m. ET Monday for areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Boston and the Upper Cape. Temperatures of 15 to 25 degrees below zero were forecast there.
"Frostbite can develop with wind chill index of minus 20," the NWS said.
The wind chill in some areas of New England was expected to make it feel as cold as 50 degrees below zero.
..Schools in western and northeastern Pennsylvania, across upstate New York and parts of Vermont and New Hampshire closed their doors or delayed openings to protect students.
In upstate New York, the National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and warnings for much of the region on Monday, including the Adirondacks where the low was 36 below in Saranac Lake early Monday morning.
The Arctic temperatures led Amtrak to suspend rail service Monday morning between Albany and New York City because the extreme cold affected signals and switches. Amtrak hoped to resume limited service between the two cities later Monday. Other rail lines are still running.
In Montpelier, Vt., it was 21 below at 7 a.m.
"Snot-freezing cold," was how Kelly Walsh, 28, described it, walking home from an auto parts store after buying a new battery for her car, which wouldn't start Monday morning.
"I usually really like it. Today is a bit of nuisance," she said.
Others agreed.
Will Forest, a 53-year-old web designer who was walking to work, called the cold "indescribable."
"I spent the summer in Dallas, Texas, and you can only experience the heat when you're there," he said. "Trying to explain it to people here is impossible. Conversely, this kind of cold, to try to explain to someone down there, you have to experience it. But it's also a really good filter, because if we didn't have this cold, everybody would want to live here and it wouldn't be the place it is."
What did he wear to prepare? "I put on two socks, a fleece and a desire to move very quickly."
Temperatures were projected to fall well below freezing across the area, including New York as a high-pressure area builds over the region.
"This is the coldest air we've had in about two years," said Michael Hill, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Caribou, Maine.
A wind chill made it feel like a few degrees below zero Monday morning as these folks waited for a bus in New York City. In a series of advisories, the NWS warned of "bitterly cold wind chills" taking temperatures to between 15 and 20 below zero in parts of the Hudson Valley and northwestern New Jersey.
"The frigid conditions will be dangerous to those venturing outside," it said, adding that people who did not take precautions like wearing hats, gloves and layers of warm clothes were at risk of frostbite and hypothermia.
A wind chill advisory was also in effect until 11 a.m. ET Monday for areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Boston and the Upper Cape. Temperatures of 15 to 25 degrees below zero were forecast there.
"Frostbite can develop with wind chill index of minus 20," the NWS said.
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