Arctic storm in Rockies, Midwest continues frigid march eastward

The frigid Arctic storm battering the Rocky Mountain states and Midwest continued its slow march east Wednesday, dropping temperatures to unseasonable lows and bringing back memories of last winter’s brutal freeze.

Residents in large swaths of Wyoming bore the brunt of the cold front, where they were greeted by a wind-chill of 35 degrees below zero Wednesday morning.

Temperatures in Casper, Wyo., hit 26 below zero, the lowest November temperature ever recorded there, said Chris Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Wyoming is coming off a mild fall where temperatures were still in the 60s as recently as this weekend, Jones said. Just three days later, the expected high in Casper was all of 3 degrees.

“That is about as good as we can hope for these days,” Jones said with a chuckle.

The freezing temperatures have brought life in Casper to a standstill, said Rachelle Presswood, 32, an employee at a local supply store where outdoor construction has come to a halt.

“We are rugged folk, we expect winter, but definitely not this early,” she said. “At least it does get you in the holiday spirit.”

A stretch of central states from Idaho through Kansas and north to Minnesota were hit with freezing temperatures Wednesday, while 3 feet of snow piled up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The cold front, the remnants of Super Typhoon Nuri, is expected to move south into Texas and east along the Appalachians into the mid-Atlantic states by Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures in Denver fell to the single digits and snowfall at Denver International Airport caused delays of up to an hour, said airport spokesman Heath Montgomery.

The storm has dumped three feet of snow in parts of Marquette County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where classes at nearby Northern Michigan University were canceled for the second day in a row due to the weather.

Areas of northern Texas are preparing for temperatures to dip into the upper 20s Thursday and dropping to 32 degrees as far south as San Antonio, said National Weather Service forecaster Cory Van Pelt.

The lows in Texas will be around 20 degrees below normal, he said.

Follow @jpanzar for national news.