Temperatures Plunge In East And Midwest Snow Even Fell In The South, More Forecast Through Tonight

It’s teeth-chattering time again in the central and northeast United States.

Just a few weeks into winter, many people are sick of it already.

“This is just too cold,” said police officer Todd Clairemont in Saranac Lake, N.Y., which had a temperature of 37 below zero Saturday morning.

The small Adirondack Mountain town of 5,500 had its share of weather-related problems, including numerous dead car batteries. “Last time I checked, there was a two-hour wait for someone to come out and do a jump-start,” Clairemont said.

A number of New York state’s major cities broke or tied their record lows for the date. In Syracuse, the temperature fell to 24 below, surpassing the former record of 12 below set in 1912. It fell to 9 below in Buffalo, breaking the record of 4 below set 100 years ago. New York City tied its record of 9 degrees.

Two record cold temperatures were broken in Vermont, 23 below in Burlington and 25 below in St. Johnsbury.

In the valley town of Bloomfield, where the frigid air usually settles, one resident reported 27 below on his thermometer Saturday morning. The town is home to the lowest temperature officially recorded in Vermont - 50 below zero, on Dec. 30, 1933.

“Your nose freezes up on the inside and your chest hurts when you breathe,” said George Nugent, 47, who has lived in Bloomfield all his life. “You can hear the house creaking and snapping.”

In Minnesota, the mercury read 13 below zero in the Twin Cities early Saturday, but the wind chill made it feel like 27 below. It was 32 below in International Falls.

Even the South got a blast of cold, dipping to record lows of 11 degrees in Pinson, Ala., and 13 in Birmingham, Ala.

Snow and freezing rain also fell in the South. In Kentucky, two drivers died in separate accidents on ice and snow-covered bridges. A car overturned on a snow-covered road in West Virginia, killing a passenger.

More snow and freezing rain were forecast for the region through tonight with heavy accumulations in Kentucky and Virginia.

The arctic air was expected to keep a firm grip over the weekend, with temperatures lower than 20 below over parts of northern Montana, the Dakotas, the upper Midwest and northern New England.

Some places could dip into the minus 40s. Wind chills were expected in the minus-40 to minus-70 range.