Is it cold and snowy where you live? Many cities and towns are feeling the chill.
Snow, ice, and wind hit the central, southern, and eastern United States this weekend.
Schools in several states closed. Snow and ice blanketed roads across Kansas, western Nebraska, and parts of Indiana.
“It’s snowing so hard. The snowplows go through and then within a half hour the roadways are completely covered again,” Indiana State Police Sergeant Todd Ringle said on Sunday.
The power went out in towns across Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, and Missouri. Nearly 300,000 customers lost electricity.
In some places, the storm may bring the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade.
Some places already got record amounts of snow. People at the Kansas City International Airport counted 11 inches on Sunday. That broke the previous record for the date. That was 10.1 inches in 1962.
Kids in upstate New York also had plenty of snow to play with. Some areas got three feet or more.
Starting Monday, bone-chilling cold and wind will move into the eastern part of the United States, forecasters say. Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees below normal. Even Florida could get a hard freeze. (That’s when temperatures drop to below 28 degrees for at least one hour.)
What’s causing the cold weather? Meet the polar vortex. This is an area of very cold air. There is one around each of the Poles. In the winter (in the Northern Hemisphere), the polar vortex at the North Pole often expands. People in the United States, Europe, and Asia feel its cold when the vortex stretches south.
The United States isn’t the only country getting wintry weather. Heavy snow and freezing rain hit Europe on Sunday.
In the United Kingdom, airlines canceled flights. Roads closed. Some cities reported power outages.
Snow and ice also froze Germany. Officials warned drivers and walkers of slippery black ice on the roads. They asked people to stay home.
Praise the Lord . . . fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling His word! — Psalm 148:8
