Dangerous subzero wind chills blanket much of U.S.

More than 100 million people in the United States were under a wind chill warning or advisory Sunday as an “Arctic blast” enveloped huge parts of the country, while the South was expected to get snow, and the Northeast braced for blinding wind-driven squalls, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service reported wind chill readings Sunday of minus 19 in Arkansas, minus 9 in Dallas and minus 60 in Montana. Low temperatures are expected to grip most of the country through the middle of the week.

“These wind chills will pose a risk of frostbite on exposed skin and hypothermia,” the weather service said. “Have a cold survival kit if you must travel.”

The extreme weather has proved to be dangerous in other ways. Strong winds knocked a tree onto a home in northwest Lake Oswego, Oregon, on Saturday morning, killing a man inside, said Sgt. Tom Harper of the Lake Oswego Police Department. More than 100 trees fell in the area over the weekend, he said.

Also in Oregon, Portland Fire and Rescue struggled to reach the scene of an RV fire in the southeast part of the city because of road closures from fallen power lines and trees. The emergency vehicles had to move slowly because of slick roads, said Lt. Terry Foster, the fire inspector.

An open-flame stove was being used to heat the RV, and a tree fell on it, starting the fire. One woman in her early 30s was killed, while three other people in the recreational vehicle managed to escape.

As of Sunday afternoon, Oregon was experiencing widespread power outages, with more than 132,000 customers without power. Pennsylvania had the second-highest number of outages, with more than 52,000 customers without power, according to Poweroutage.us.

High temperatures Sunday and Monday will likely be 20 to 40 degrees below average from Montana to Texas.

A wind advisory posted Sunday includes the Philadelphia metropolitan area and points east to the northern New Jersey coast. Winds gusting to 40 to 50 mph can lead to whiteout conditions for 15 to 20 minutes.

The powerful winds could damage trees and lead to power failures, the weather service said.

Lake-effect snow is also a threat this weekend in the Great Lakes region, with the potential for whiteouts in Michigan, Wisconsin, and western and northern New York state.

Multiple winter storm warnings were in effect Sunday morning around the Buffalo, New York, region, where up to 2 feet of snow were predicted to fall throughout the weekend.

Because of the weather, the NFL’s wild card weekend game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, was postponed to Monday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time from Sunday at 1 p.m.

Around New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, the weather service forecast snow and localized wind gusts of up to 50 mph. New York City could get 1 to 4 inches of snow Monday night into Tuesday.

Arkansas and Tennessee could receive up to 6 inches of snow.

Snow, sleet, rain and dangerous wind chills are expected to batter the West Coast, the Plains, parts of the Northeast and to extend into sections of the South.

Snow and freezing rain is expected from the West Coast to the Rocky Mountains. The heavy snow and ice have the makings for “poor to impossible” travel conditions in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

Moving east from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and Iowa, wind chills will drop below minus 30 degrees, forecasters said, adding that dangerously cold weather “will persist and redevelop” over parts of the Midwest.

A large section of Canada was also under an extreme cold warning Sunday, including Alberta, where the conditions were putting a strain on the province’s power grid. Temperatures in some regions could drop to as low as minus 49 degrees, officials said.

Parts of the Southern United States will experience cold weather as “wintry precipitation,” including snow, sleet and freezing rain, are forecast to develop across several states. Ice is also expected for parts of central Texas through the lower Mississippi Valley.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT, issued a weather watch, though it stated on social media that the state’s electrical “grid conditions are expected to be normal.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.