**Live Blog** America on Ice

**Live Blog** America on Ice
Breitbart News

Nearly 90% of the United States is frozen as severe and deadly temperatures hit the country on Tuesday. The average temperature on Tuesday is barely over 14 degrees. In New York, temperatures reached a 118-year low. In Philadelphia, dangerous wind chills are expected to make temperatures feel like 15 to 20 degrees below zero throughout the day. The good news is that the country is expected to start thawing on Wednesday. Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.

UPDATE: Frigid temperatures expected to persist through Wednesday afternoon for much of the country.

UPDATE: The Hurricanes were shut down by a blizzard in Buffalo when the NHL postponed the hockey game between Carolina and Buffalo.

UPDATE: Frigid Temperatures Causing Plumbing Problems.

UPDATE: Energy conservation urged in many states in extreme weather.

UPDATE: FEMA Monitoring Extreme Cold Weather

UPDATE: As Breitbart News has been reporting, there will be below-freezing temperatures in all 50 states again on Tuesday.

UPDATE: A report on How Cold Weather Impacts the Human Body, Makes You Dumb

What happens to the body in extreme cold?

Our bodies are built to protect their most precious machinery–vital organs such as the heart, kidneys, and lungs. When faced with bone-chilling cold, we shunt all available blood to these organs to keep them warm and functioning. That means that “extremities take the hit for the rest of the body,” said Lanigan, which is why your fingertips, toes, nose, and earlobes get so cold: They lose their blood. 

It’s also why you may feel like urinating when you’re in very cold weather: Your kidneys get a lot of blood flow. (Though “the last thing you think about doing [in the cold] is peeing outside,” quipped McGinnis.)

Reduced blood flow to the extremities makes your legs and arms more sluggish. If you’re out long enough and your body temperature starts to drop, your metabolism–how your body processes energy–also slows, causing mental confusion.

There’s a saying that “cold makes you dumb,” McGinnis said–meaning it’s particularly dangerous if you have to make a crucial decision in the cold, like choosing a path on a hiking trail.

Read more here.

UPDATE: Water Main Breaks at Reagan National Airport

UPDATE: Avalanche in Vail, Colorado: One Person Reportedly Dead

UPDATE: Chicago Temperatures Above Zero For First Time Since Sunday

UPDATE: Some Florida Farmers Are Welcoming Cold Temperatures: 

UPDATE: Learn About ‘Cool Booms’

Now have you ever heard of a “cold boom”?  Technically known as a cryoseismic boom, this phenomenon is reserved only for the coldest of temperatures, and considered pretty rare for the lower latitudes of the continental United States.  The boom sound is created by a cryoseism, which is a mini explosion within the ground caused by the rapid expansion of frozen water.

This cool phenomenon shocked the Upper Midwest last weekend, and more recently parts of Canada including Toronto over the weekend, when temperatures crashed with the arrival of arctic cold fronts rapidly freezing any water and moisture underground.  A quick search for “strange booms” on Twitter revealed these cryoseisms have been heard from Green Bay, to Chicago, to Toronto in the past week.

While considered harmless, these cryoseismic booms certainly caused a stir waking several people from their slumber.

UPDATE: A picture of Lake Michigan

UPDATE: Here’s another way to look at the freezing temperatures:

UPDATE: Getting Stranded on Roads in Midwest May Be Life-Threatening

Wind chills Tuesday and Tuesday night may plunge as cold as the -30s. This could make travel life-threatening if you become stranded on a drifted road.

UPDATE: Parts of Country Under Blizzard Warning:

Blizzard warnings have been posted for Genesee, Erie and Wyoming Counties in western New York, including the Buffalo metro area. Snow will fall at the rate of at least 1-2 inches per hour. Over a foot of snow is likely within the 10-20 mile wide snowband. Local amounts over three feet are possible, particularly over the “Southtowns” of Buffalo.

UPDATE: Ice on Potomac

UPDATE: Snowfall Expected in Oklahoma, Arkansas on Wed.; ‘Hard Freeze Warnings’ from Texas to Florida:

Snowfall was forecast in southern states, including Oklahoma and Arkansas, on Wednesday. Hard freeze warnings extended from Texas to Florida. 

UPDATE: Natural Gas, Gasoline Prices Soaring

Energy demand soared across many parts of the country, with US natural gas rising on Tuesday on expectations of a storage drawdown. That followed a record surge on Monday, when the price for natural gas for next-day delivery on the Transco pipeline into New York rose to $90 per million British thermal units, up 660 per cent from last week’s close and 20 times more than benchmark futures prices, according to the ICE Futures US exchange.

UPDATE: K-Mart Roof Collapses in Michigan

UPDATE: Cars at Standstill in Buffalo 

UPDATE: D.C. Coldest Temperatures in 20 years

Assuming the D.C. low this morning of 6 degrees holds, any high temperature at or below 26 degrees (guaranteed) will put today on the list. A high of  16 degrees or lower would make this the coldest day since the almost untouchable Jan. 19, 1994.

When it comes to wind chills, still running near and below zero at noon, D.C’s peak of -11 degrees earlier this morning is more or less in line with other big cold days. On Jan. 19, 1994, Washington reached -24 degrees for a wind chill.

UPDATE: SOUTH CAROLINA: Power outages at schools, late starts Wednesdays, Emergency Shelters Reach Full Capacity Due, Flights Canceled to Dangerously Cold Temperatures:

UPDATE: Here’s a map of the dangerously cold temperatures across much of the east coast:

UPDATE: JetBlue Resuming Flights:

JetBlue said on its’ blog that it will consider reimbursement requests on a case-by-case basis. JetBlue is telling customers to submit a request for their extra costs while stranded and the airline will consider them.

Southwest started to resume some flights on Monday evening.

UPDATE: Check the status of your flights here: 

UPDATE: Hypothermia Symptoms (via the Mayo Clinic):

Shivering is your body’s automatic defense against cold temperature — an attempt to warm itself. Constant shivering is a key sign of hypothermia. Signs and symptoms of moderate to severe hypothermia include:

Shivering

Clumsiness or lack of coordination

Slurred speech or mumbling

Stumbling

Confusion or difficulty thinking

Poor decision making, such as trying to remove warm clothes

Drowsiness or very low energy

Apathy or lack of concern about one’s condition

Progressive loss of consciousness

Weak pulse

Slow, shallow breathing

UPDATE: 187 MILLION PEOPLE IMPACTED 

Forecasters said some 187 million people in all could feel the effects of the “polar vortex” by the time it spreads across the country. Tennessee utility officials braced for near-record power demand, while Ohio prepared for its coldest temperatures in decades. Wind chill warnings stretched as far south as Florida.

UPDATE: Demand for Power Soars, Grids Maxed Out

UPDATE: More Record Lows on East Coast:

With temperatures dropping into the single digits Tuesday, some record lows will be challenged or broken. Here are some record lows for Tuesday:

Allentown: -4 (1942)

Atlantic City: 4 (1884)

Mt. Pocono: -5 (1988)

Philadelphia: 7 (1988)

Reading: 6 (1998)

Trenton: 6 (1912)

Wilmington: 10 (1988)

This won’t be a long lasting polar outbreak since the weather pattern remains progressive. Temperatures will be back in the 20s on Wednesday, 30s on Thursday and around 50 by the weekend.

UPDATE: BLUE ALERT ISSUED IN NYC

The Department of Homeless Services has issued a code blue alert, ramping up efforts to get people off the streets and into shelters

UPDATE: 118-Year Lows in NYC

Temperatures dipped so low in Manhattan the city froze itself a spot in history.

Jan. 7 is the coldest day in 118 years as Central Park fell to just 5 degrees, according to NBC 4 News, breaking a record set in 1896 when the temps hit 6 degrees.

UPDATE: ORANGE JUICE FUTURES RISE DURING POLAR VORTEX:

Orange juice futures rose Monday as traders anticipated that cold weather might affect Florida’s citrus crop.

The actively traded March contract for frozen orange juice concentrate rose 3.85 cents, or 3 percent, to $1.436 a pound.

Florida is expecting temperatures to fall into the 30s in part of the state Tuesday, but a Florida Citrus Mutual spokesman said temperatures must be at 28 degrees or lower four hours straight for fruit to freeze badly.

UPDATE: TRAVELERS SPEND NIGHT ON 3 SNOWBOUND AMTRAK TRAINS

More than 500 Amtrak passengers who spent the night onboard three trains stranded in snow in northern Illinois are finally heading to Chicago.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says Tuesday that buses are transporting about 300 passengers from two trains near Mendota, about 80 miles from Chicago.

A third train loaded with 217 people spent the night at a rail yard in Galesburg, about 150 miles from Chicago. Magliari says Amtrak is still deciding whether to let the train travel along a different route or whether passengers should be placed on buses as well.

The trains that got stuck in blowing and drifting snow were heading to Chicago from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Quincy, Ill.

UPDATE:  CLIMATE CHANGE GROUPS SEEK NEW LEADERSHIP AS GREEN MOVEMENT LOSES MOMENTUM

It is unclear exactly why many climate change organizations are installing new executives, but it appears they are following the professional sports paradigm: When a team loses more than it wins, you can’t fire all the players, but you can fire the coach.

UPDATE: Northeast Temps Drop 50 Degrees Overnight

The “polar vortex” that froze the U.S. Midwest caused a Northeast weather whiplash Tuesday as temperatures fell 50 degrees overnight as the brutal cold arrived.

Buffalo, N.Y., the state’s second-most-populous city, braced for up to 3 feet of snow and wind chills of at least 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit

New York counties west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania expected wind chills of at least 40 below, the National Weather Service said.

UPDATE: Chinese Ship Breaks Free of Ice in Antarctica 

A Chinese icebreaker that became trapped last week after coming to the rescue of a Russian research ship stuck in heavy sea ice in Antarctica broke free on Tuesday, state media reported.

UPDATE: Escaped inmate turns himself in to escape arctic air

Just how cold is it in Kentucky? Apparently cold enough for an escaped prisoner to decide to turn himself in.

Authorities say the inmate escaped from a minimum security facility in Lexington on Sunday. As temperatures dropped into the low single digits Monday, they say he walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call police.

Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts says 42-year-old Robert Vick of Hartford told the clerk he wanted to turn himself in and escape the arctic air.

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