Record-breaking arctic chill moving across U.S.
A massive arctic chill is moving over much of the country Monday, bringing bone-chilling cold and snow. More than 67 million Americans are under winter weather alerts, and forecasters expect hundreds of cold temperature records to be broken.
The cold and snow will have people shivering across the central, southern, and eastern U.S. through the middle of the week.
The Plains and Midwest have seen snow, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud. Rapid City, South Dakota, got about five inches. There was a "no travel advisory" issued because of how much snow fell there over the weekend.
In Minneapolis, vehicles were seen stuck along a very icy Interstate 35 near downtown. Temperatures in Minneapolis started out in the single digits – the high Monday will only be 17.
Snow also fell overnight in some parts of eastern Iowa, which could get 4 to 6 inches of snow.
In Lockport, New York, about 40 minutes north of Buffalo, the forecast calls for 10 inches of snow. Upstate New York and northern New England could get 6 inches of snow.
The core of the cold air Monday night and Tuesday surges east across places like the Ohio Valley and into the Great Lakes, reports CBS News climate and weather contributor Jeff Berardelli. It then overtakes the whole eastern half of the nation as we head into Wednesday.
Two-thirds of the eastern half of the country will be covered in temperatures that are near freezing or below freezing. In Dallas, it feels like 32, but temperatures begin to surge down by Tuesday morning to a feels-like temperature of 14. It will feel like 10 in Nashville, 4 below in Chicago, and 49 in Philadelphia on Tuesday. It will feel like 14 in Philadelphia and 7 in Boston by Wednesday.
Snow is going to be a big deal, as Chicago faces 3 to 6 inches Monday. Upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire could see up to a foot of snow over the next couple of days.
