The bitter cold that gripped the US Midwest forced commuters to bundle up like polar explorers. By early next week, many of those same people might get by with a light jacket.
Just days after the Arctic conditions, the region is set to swing into another season, with temperatures climbing by as much as 26°C, forecasts say.
The rapid thaw would be unprecedented and it could create problems of its own — bursting pipes, flooding rivers and crumbling roads, experts said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I don’t think there’s ever been a case where we’ve seen [such a big] shift in temperatures” in the winter, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the Weather Underground firm.
“Past record cold waves have not dissipated this quickly... Here we are going right into spring-like temperatures,” Masters said.
Although many places remained painfully cold on Thursday, the deep freeze eased somewhat as the system marched east. Frigid weather descended on an area spanning from Buffalo to Brooklyn.
In western New York, a storm that dumped up to 51cm of snow gave way to subzero temperatures and face-stinging wind chills. In New York City, about 200 firefighters battling a blaze in a commercial building took turns getting warm on buses. The number of deaths that could be blamed on the cold climbed to at least 15.
For the central US, relief was as close as the weekend.
Rockford, Illinois, was at a record-breaking minus-35°C on Thursday morning, but should be at about 10°C on Monday. Other previously frozen areas could see temperatures of 13°C or higher.
The dramatic warm-up will offer a respite from the bone-chilling cold that canceled school, closed businesses and halted trains. However, potholes will appear on roads and bridges weakened by the freeze-thaw cycle. The same cycle can crack water mains and homeowners’ pipes. Scores of vehicles will be left with flat tires and bent rims.
Joe Buck, who manages Schmit Towing in Minneapolis and spent about 20 hours a day outdoors this week responding to stranded vehicle calls, said he was already taking calls for Monday to deal with a backlog of hundreds of stalled vehicles.
In Detroit, where some water mains are almost 150 years old, city workers were dealing with dozens of breaks, said Palencia Mobley, deputy director of the Detroit Department of Water and Sewerage.
The thawing of the pipes can sometimes inflict greater damage than the initial freeze. Bursts can occur when ice inside starts to melt and water rushes through the pipe or when water in the pipe is pushed to a closed faucet by expanding ice.
Elsewhere, a bridge in the western Michigan community of Newaygo, 64km north of Grand Rapids, was closed as the ice-jammed Muskegon River rose above flood stage. Officials in Buffalo, New York, watched for flooding on the Upper Niagara River because of ice.
In other signs that the worst of the deep freeze was ending, Xcel Energy on Thursday lifted a request to its Minnesota natural gas customers to temporarily lower their thermostats to ease concerns about the fuel supply.
Earlier in the day, several cities set record lows, with Chicago’s temperature dropping to a low of about minus-30°C, slightly above the city’s lowest-ever reading of minus-32°C in January 1985.
Masters said that the polar vortex was “rotating up into Canada” and not expected to return in the next couple of weeks.
If it does return in late February, “it won’t be as intense,” he said.
Still, memories of the dangerous cold were bound to linger.
In Illinois, at least 144 people visited hospital emergency rooms for cold-related injuries over two days, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health.
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