Bitterly cold air blankets United States
Frigid air was blowing across the United States, dropping temperatures in many areas into the single digits and leading weather monitors to issue wind chill advisories and politicians to plead with residents to check on their neighbors.
The blast of arctic air that's blanketing most of the country prompted schools to close or delay openings from the Southeast to the Midwestern heartland. A National Weather Service wind chill advisory for much of the Northeast for Wednesday into Thursday warns of "dangerously cold air" with strong winds that could result in frostbite if people don't put on their scarves, hats and gloves.
In western New York state, which is still recovering from a historic snow storm in November, a stretch of the state's main interstate highway reopened after being shut down in both directions for more than three hours Tuesday night into Wednesday morning because of severe storms near Lake Erie.
Tuesday's storms along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario dumped about 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow on areas south of Buffalo.
