Brutal cold tormented the United States in the last week and the weather is not getting any warmer for the coming day. Ice could accrue in cities such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Washington, New York and Atlanta, forecasters said. Chicago has an 80% chance of snow on Sunday night, whereas Boston has a 20% chance of snow showers on Monday according to the National Weather Service forecast.
The East Coast’s first snowstorm of 2018 was elated by a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis or a bomb cyclone. The phenomenon gave rise to currents of more than 70 miles (113 km) per hour and produced snowfall totals of 22 inches (56 cm) in parts of Maine and 17 inches (43 cm) in parts of Massachusetts, the weather service said.
The temperature of Boston and New York on Sunday morning was in Fahrenheit in the single digits, while Washington and Chicago were somewhat warmer but still well below freezing. The impulsive cold weather dropped snow into sub-tropical Florida, where numerous people posted social media pictures of iguanas that had fallen from trees in recent days. Zoologists warned people not to assume they were dead as the cold-blooded reptiles were capable of leaping back to life after warming up.
The harsh cold weather that has enthralled much of the United States since the new year will last another day, forecasters said on Sunday, predicting an end to the icy spell that featured a “bomb cyclone” snowstorm
“Suffice to say, it will be a brutally cold weekend,” the weather service said. “But some relief is in sight heading into early next week.”
Even with an apparent relief on the way, the National Weather Service said daily temperature records could be broken on Sunday along the East Coast. New York City was expected to undergo its 13th day of below-freezing temperature.
“With an arctic ridge of high pressure in place early this morning over the northeastern U.S., overnight readings may dip below 0 degrees from the upper Mid-Atlantic northward as well as into the Central Appalachians, Ohio Valley, and lower Great Lakes,” the weather service said.
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was closed from Thursday to Friday morning when snow created a total white-out condition, and on Saturday set an all-time low for January 6 at 8 F (minus 13 Celsius) according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. More than 450 flights were canceled all over the country on Saturday. As of early Sunday, the tracking site Flightaware.com corresponded about 530 cancellations and almost 6,500 delays.
Temperatures in many places have been so cold that authorities have warned residents that they risk frostbite if their skin is exposed for just 10 minutes.
The snow and merciless cold have brought parts of the Northeast to a halt and were blamed for at least 18 deaths over the past several days. Six deaths were reported in Wisconsin, four in Texas, three in North Carolina, two in Virginia and one each in Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, New York and South Carolina.
