News

Arctic blast’s frigid temps boggle the mind

Commuters arrive at the La Salle Street commuter rail station as they experience temperatures well below zero and wind chills expected to reach 40 to 50 below, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Daryl Daugherty clears the sidewalk in front of his home, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, as temperatures dropped lower than 10 below zero. More than 12 inches of snow fell on Sunday. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A Delta plane is deiced at Chicago Midway International Airport Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in Chicago. The bitter weather comes after a heavy snowstorm hit much of the region last week. More than 400 flights were cancelled at Chicago's airports Monday.(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Rick Gibson shovels the snow from his neighbor's driveway on West Kalong Circle in Southfield, Michigan on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014, as metro Detroit digs out from a severe winter snow storm. (AP Photo/ The Detroit News, David Guralnick)

Mohamed Yusuf, right, jump starts his stepfather Mohamed Adem's car on Neland Avenue SE in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014. More snow is expected to blanket the state throughout the evening. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Andrew Kuhn) ALL LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL TV INTERNET OUT

Matt Frame brushes off a Buick at Ray Laethem Buick-GMC in Detroit, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Michigan residents are preparing for diving temperatures as they dig out from more than 15 inches of snow in places. Snow wrapped up after starting during the weekend. Roads are slippery, with numerous crashes. In the southern Lower Peninsula, temperatures are to drop late Monday or early Tuesday as low as minus 15. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In an imagge made with a fisheye lens, Marguerite Johnston uncovers her car in Grosse Pointe, Mich., Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Michigan residents are preparing for diving temperatures as they dig out from more than 15 inches of snow in places. .(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Brian Joshua, 45, back, shovels snow with Carlos Fordham, 18, on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014 in front of a church near the intersection of Saginaw Street and Court Street. "Gotta make sure it's clear for the church folks," said Joshua, who added that he had been shoveling snow since about 9 a.m. (AP Photo/ The Journal, Michelle Tessier)

A JetBlue airplane taxis to park at a gate at Logan Airport, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in Boston. JetBlue announced that they would halt operations in Boston, New York and New Jersey later in the afternoon, to rest their crews and give it time to service aircraft, due to flight delays and cancellations. Heavy rains in the East, and sub-zero temperatures in the Midwest, threw airlines and travel plans into havoc. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The cold weather makes vision challenging as Jobin Curow's glasses fog up while walking in subzero temperatures and wind chills reaching -40 to -50 degrees on the Lawrence University campus Monday, January 6, 2014 in Appleton, Wis. Frigid, dense air swirled across much of the U.S. on Monday, forcing some cities and their residents into hibernation while others layered up and carried on despite a dangerous cold that broke decades-old records. (AP Photo/The Post-Crescent, Sharon Cekada ) NO SALES Sharon Cekada/Post-Crescent Media

With the area locked in a state of emergency, the streets in downtown Fort Wayne, Ind. remain mostly bare Monday, Jan 6, 2014, as plow trucks continued to clear the city streets and real temperatures dropped down to -12 degrees with wind chill factors hitting -30 degrees. The area is experiencing sub-zero temps and blowing and drifting after several inches of snow on Sunday. (AP Photo, The Journal Gazette, Chad Ryan) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES; MAGS OUT

Jerome Harris is bundled up against the weather as wind blows up his scarf Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in St. Louis. After the area was blanketed by snow on Sunday, dangerous cold settled across Missouri on Monday amid warnings that even a few minutes of exposure for people and pets could be deadly. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Snow drifts blanket the cars of motorists stranded at the American Red Cross shelter Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, at Faith Community Center in Lafayette, Ind. Bob Wollenburg, executive director of the local chapter, said 80 people stayed in the shelter Sunday night into Monday. (AP Photo/Journal & Courier, John Terhune)

More Stories

FILE - Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., talks after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hil ...

$400 million boost in federal funds for security at places of worship

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators remove belongings from an encampment after police arrived on the ...

Protesters at USC comply with school order to leave their encampment

Israeli soldiers drive a tank at a staging ground near the border with the Gaza Strip, in south ...

Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended

Brian Hernandez Jr. rides Mystik Dan, right, across the finish line to win the 150th running of ...

Mystik Dan wins 150th Kentucky Derby in a close 3-horse photo finish

REVIEWJOURNAL.COM

January 6, 2014 - 7:15 pm

Sorry, but we just don’t understand. Sure, many of us came from parts of the country that are being whipped by an arctic blast right now, but the distance makes us a little insensitive to the situation in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Las Vegas, where we were still at 53 degrees at 6 p.m. on Monday, seems downright balmy in comparison. It might sound whiny to point out that’s only 20 degrees above freezing.

Flights are canceled all over the East Coast, snarling travel plans and inconveniencing thousands. And deaths are blamed on the record-breaking blast of polar air. It’s serious business

But there’s another side to this freakish weather, and here are some things that caught our eye:

1. In Milwaukee, they’re making snow with their boiling water. Watch the video above if you’ve never seen this phenomenon before.

2. In Michigan, three people have died while shoveling snow. Two more in Illinois.

3. From the Dakotas to Maryland, schools and day care centers have shut down. “You definitely know when you are not wearing your thermal undergarments,” said Staci Kalthoff, who raises cattle with her husband on a 260-acre farm in Albany, Minn., where -24 feels like -46 with the wind chill.

4. Layers. Brandon Schmidt of Jim’s Towing in West Fargo, N.D., swears by layers, and when a delivery truck refused to start in -22 weather (-45, wind chill), he gave a wardrobe rundown: “I’m dressed in insulated pants, coveralls, Carhartt coat, hats and gloves … and you still freeze your butt off.” The icicles in his mustache and beard said it all.

5. At Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis most of the stores inside were open for business. But not Jersey Devil Pizza & Wings. “Apologies … We are East Coast wimps. Too cold! Stay safe, see you Tuesday,” read a sign taped to the door.

By the numbers:

187 million people, more than half of the nation’s population, were under a wind chill warning or advisory Monday.

55 below: That’s what it feels like in International Falls, Minn., taking the wind chill into account. Even Virginia and West Virginia were ridiculously cold, with a wind chill 0f -35.

-36 degrees: That’s the hard number at Crane Lake, Minn., with no wind chill. The warmest: 84 in Hollywood and Punta Gorda, Fla.

3,700 flights — around one out of every 10 domestic departures — were canceled Monday morning, following a weekend of travel disruption across the country.