Bitter cold strikes Northern Plains, Great Lakes regions

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

CHICAGO (AP) — An arctic air mass froze water pipes in Minnesota and led officials in Chicago to ask residents to check on neighbors as bitter cold conditions struck the upper Midwest.

Thanks to El Nino, winter got off to a mild start. But a blast of dangerous cold was moving east across the Northern Plains and Great Lakes.

Temperatures bottomed out at 36 degrees below in Fosston in northwest Minnesota. More than 800 miles to the southeast, wind chills in Indianapolis were expected to plummet to 20 degrees below zero.

Temperatures in parts of Illinois were in the single digits. The National Weather Service warned wind-chill numbers could drop to near 30 degrees below zero overnight Sunday into Monday.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9684bcf091474747a1f22a27579156e8/bitter-cold-strikes-northern-plains-great-lakes-regions

[Odin2005]

1. I'm not going anywhere here in Fargo.

BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

[hifiguy]

2. Ive lived in Minneapolis all my life.

Cold weather comes with the territory and this is ordinary.

This is nothing compared to the winter of '83-84 when it never got above zero for two solid weeks in December. It bottomed out the night before Xmas eve when it was -34 with -86 wind chills.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Wow. That's awful.

It's pretty cold here in Kansas City but it's not unusual for this time of year.

[Omaha Steve]

14. Marta and I remember that winter

The furnace never really caught up. After a new high efficiency furnace, newer self store storm windows, and steel siding with insulation future winters were much better.

OS

[Proserpina]

3. Tell me about it

I'm staying in, in "tropical" SE Michigan, although it got up to 15F today.

[ButterflyBlood]

4. I live in Minneapolis

People here are used to it. I was at a bar last night, still packed. Warming up my car now in fact. We just bundle up a bit more and get through it.

[Thor_MN]

10. Enough layers and it's no big deal.

Walked three miles this morning outside, Temp was -6° when I got back.

[FLPanhandle]

5. Here I was complaining about it being only in the mid 50's here in Florida.

Maybe it's not so bad out here after all. Good luck!

[Brickbat]

6. Was a gorgeous day in Northern MN today.

[tblue37]

7. Went from a daytime high of 58 to a high of 9 in a 2-day period here in eastern Kansas. nt

[DFW]

8. Yeow!

I guess I should be glad I'm stuck in Dallas for another 10 days!

[MrsMatt]

11. -15 in St Paul this a.m.

sure wish this kind of cold to hit the good patriots currently occupying the Masher Refuge; that would up the martyr factor (aside from the lack of snacks and abundance of dildos.)

[restorefreedom]

12. i always worry about the ag animals

evey year there is a sad story about thousands of cows dying, and that has already happened this year.

[PatrynXX]

13. having grown up in the upper midwest (not sure if Iowa is. :P )

it ain't cold unless it's -10 for a high

out in the country we had like I think -50 wind chill once and we heard a bang somewhere ahh thats why you cover up your outdoor faucets (oops) pipe cracked. good ol MN miss MN too despite all the problems , overall the people were nice. it got to zero today and it's -3 at the moment. meh. got to 12 below last night. and around 40 below for some folks I know in Canada. er 40 below Celcius (sp)... which at that time in F isn't much better. big difference when it goes above 0 F v 0 C but not below.

[Archae]

15. Zero degrees here in Sheboygan right now, 5:20pm.

Was -7 with 25 mile an hour winds last night, may get that cold again tonight.

[Travis_0004]

16. Thank God for remote car starters.

Start my car up, let it run for about 15 minutes, and I'm ready to go in the morning. Even when its -15, I don't have to scrape off anything, and the car is toasty.

[eggplant]

18. And block heaters, too. :)

[PasadenaTrudy]

17. I'm glad I live in SoCal... n/t