Bitter Cold, Freezing Rain Spread Over Much of Nation

Cold weather spread to New England and the mid-Atlantic states Thursday, while dangerous wind chills lingered in the nation’s heartland and Northwest, weather forecasters said.

A band of freezing rain extended from Texas to New England, heavy snow was reported in parts of the Rockies and wind-chill readings--the way cold wind feels to the skin--hit 75 below in parts of Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming.

The cold and snow led to unexpected school and university holidays in several states and numerous highway accidents. Ranchers in Montana reported that newborn calves were dying in the cold, and citrus growers in South Texas took precautions to keep the deep freeze from harming their crops.

Classes were canceled at many South Dakota schools because of the wind chill and blowing snow. Schools also were closed in North Dakota, Oregon and elsewhere.

The large weather system stemmed from cold air that poured down from Alaska early in the week, after a shift in the jet stream. By Thursday, its effects in the Lower 48 were being felt across a roughly triangular area from the Pacific Northwest to Texas to New England, areas that had enjoyed in many cases their warmest January in years.

In Boston, it was a record 66 degrees at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Twenty-four hours later, it was 31, and light freezing rain was falling.

In Montana, temperatures overnight dipped to 34 below in Great Falls, Lewistown and Cut Bank. The afternoon temperature at Billings, Mont., was 24 degrees below zero, well below the record low for the date of 13 below zero.

In Alaska, temperatures remained in the cellar near the Canadian border but warmed up elsewhere. It was 37 degrees at Adak in the Aleutian Islands and 59 below zero near Canada at Northway.

At least four traffic fatalities were blamed on the weather, and in Edmonds, Wash., a 35-year-old utility worker died Thursday when he fell while trying to repair a downed power line.

But a 16-year-old boy was rescued Thursday in North Dakota when searchers found Bennett Stebleton of rural Egeland, who got lost Monday while driving to his family’s farm. Stebleton was coherent but “too wrung out to show any emotion” aside from saying, “I’m thankful that I’m alive,” volunteer rescuer Greg Mitchell said.

Stebleton, who had only light clothing and car mats to keep him warm, had frostbitten feet and hands and was in serious condition, hospital officials said. Overnight temperatures in the area had plunged to 30 degrees below zero.

Besides the cold temperatures, heavy snow was reported in the Rockies. Craig, Colo., reported 6 new inches of snow, while 11 1/2 inches were reported in northern Larimer County, Colo., and 4 inches at Laramie, Wyo. Snow also fell in the upper Midwest.

Freezing rain extended as far south as Texas, and forecasters said there was a chance that below-freezing temperatures could extend to the southern part of the state by the weekend.

Power outages blamed on the weather were reported in Washington state, Montana, Utah and Nebraska. Officials in Norfolk, Neb., theorized that a power line contracted so tightly in 58 below wind chills that it snapped.

Forecasters said the deep freeze would last for at least a few more days in most affected areas.

Meanwhile, in Punxsutawney, Pa., groundhog Punxsutawney Phil was pulled out of his burrow at dawn Thursday and saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.

Despite an overcast sky, Phil’s handlers from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club claimed he saw a faint shadow at 7:28 a.m.

Tradition has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter will follow. If he doesn’t, then spring is just around the corner.

Punxsutawney’s tradition has given rise to four-legged forecasters elsewhere, and most of them broke with Phil Thursday and predicted an early spring.

In Lilburn, Ga., a groundhog dubbed General Lee failed to see a shadow, as did West Virginia’s Concord Charlie and French Creek Freddy; Buckeye Chuck in Marion, Ohio; Rowdy, a groundhog at the Indianapolis Zoo, and Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, Wis.