Icebox Weather Back East: -14 in Chicago, -37 in S.D. : Subzero Cold Hits 17 States

Life-threatening frigid air spilling from the Arctic Circle southward smashed cold weather records from Nebraska to New York City today, pushing temperatures below zero in 17 states.

For the second day in a row, Huron, S.D., had the coldest official temperature in the country. This morning’s reading was 37 below--a record. Sioux Falls, S.D., reported a record low 25 below and Pierre shivered through a record minus-24 degrees.

Records were broken or tied in a dozen cities, including Valentine, Neb., 27 below; Mason City, Iowa, 26 below; Chicago, 14 below; South Bend, Ind., 10 below; Flint, Mich., 4 below; Beckley, W.Va., 2 below; Youngstown, Ohio, 2 below; Newark, N.J., 9 above, and New York City, 10 above.

In Boston, temperatures in the teens froze Monday’s six-inch snowfall into icy mounds, making parking on and driving through the city’s narrow streets perilous.

Across the Midwest and Northeast, homeless shelters were filled to capacity and beyond, with hundreds sleeping on couches or air mattresses on the floor. Others took shelter in subways, bus and police stations and building lobbies.

“We can hold up to about 50, but it’s one of those things where you can’t say no,” said Skip Kelley of the Inner City Mission in Springfield, Ill., where the low was 5 degrees below zero.

11 Deaths by Exposure

Seventeen deaths were attributed to the weather, 11 by exposure.

As usual, motorists were hard hit by the freeze. The Automobile Club of New York estimated it would handle 5,500-6,000 emergency calls from drivers today--98% of them for flat batteries. Normally, it handles about 1,200 calls a day.

Electric socks, insulated underwear and portable heaters sold like hot cakes, and zoo animals were kept inside.

The weather service in South Bend, Ind., where the temperature hit 10 below overnight, reported an unusual phenomenon called a “luminous pillar”--a vertical column of light produced at night by light being bent, or refracted, as it passes through tiny ice crystals.

James Gilmore, 63, was found frozen to death on a street in Detroit’s suburban Lake Orion, Mich., today as the temperature dipped to 2 below zero. Police said Gilmore apparently walking home from the downtown area when he apparently slipped, struck his head and was knocked unconscious.

His frozen body was found shortly after 7 a.m. about three blocks from his home.

Newborn Found Frozen

In addition, a sanitation worker in New York discovered the frozen body of a newborn girl today, but authorities said they could not immediately determine the cause of death.

The infant, “no more than a day old,” was found at 11 a.m. in the Bronx. The child’s umbilical cord was “tied with a shoestring,” police Sgt. Gary Borman said.

Meanwhile, what the National Weather Service called a major winter storm dumped snow from the southern Rockies into Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and parts of the Mississippi Valley. Four inches of snow fell on Salt Lake City, and up to 16 inches of snow was forecast for mountainous areas of Colorado.

Up to 15 inches was expected to fall in parts of Oklahoma--a record 24-hour snowfall for the state, Bob Woodward of the Oklahoma City National Weather Service office said.

Up to eight inches of snow had stacked up in parts of Oklahoma by midday. Many schools closed and state police reported some roads impassable.

Accu-Weather, a private forecasting service, said the storm was taking aim at the East Coast, where significant amounts of snow are likely from Washington up to Boston by week’s end.