Below Zero Arctic Air Freezes Most of U.S. Solid

The arrival of winter today brought another punishing blast of arctic air, dropping temperatures well below zero from Wyoming to Michigan, giving shivers to the Deep South and stopping a passenger train in North Dakota.

Forecasters said the polar winds blamed in at least 42 deaths around the country in the last week may stop by Christmas. But the cold had much of the nation well prepared for the start of winter.

“I doubt we’ll notice it,” said Terry Conroy, a street cleaner in Syracuse, N.Y., where crews have had to remove snow almost daily in the last few weeks.

The National Weather Service’s Albany, N.Y., bureau described the weather as “cold, with a double underline on that.” In Chicago, where a minus 13 reading this morning broke a minus 12 record for the date set in 1872, the weather service warned travelers to “dress for arctic cold.”

It was so cold in Minot, N.D., that the fuel froze in an engine of a train bound for Chicago from Seattle, stranding about 300 passengers and crew overnight, said Mike Kirka, an Amtrak ticket agent in Chicago.

The temperature was about 30 below, with the wind chill near minus 80, when the train pulled into the Minot station shortly before midnight, Kirka said. The engine wouldn’t restart, and after three hours passengers were put up at hotels at Amtrak’s expense, he said.

Wind chills were expected today to be as low as 80 below in North Dakota, 75 below in Minnesota and 65 below in Missouri. People were urged to stay indoors, and some schools were closed today in North Dakota and Nebraska.

The morning’s lowest temperature in the Lower 48 states was minus 43 at Jordan, Mont.

Other early morning temperatures included minus 28 in Bismarck, N.D.; minus 22 in Minneapolis-St. Paul; 17 below in Des Moines, Iowa; minus 20 in Omaha, Neb.; minus 12 in Rapid City, S.D.; 16 below in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and minus 9 in Casper, Wyo.

Little Rock, Ark., was a chilly 20, while Ft. Worth, Tex., was 24.

But today’s surge of arctic air into northern Minnesota appeared to be the last in the series of blasts that have crossed the border into Minnesota and plagued the eastern half of the nation for 10 days, the weather service said.

“The trend looks hopeful for a change in the cold northwest flow to a more westerly flow on the weekend over Minnesota,” the weather service said. “This means a very slow moderation in temperatures by Sunday and Christmas Day.”