A deadly blast of Arctic air broke decades-old temperature records as it covered the eastern United States on Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of thousands of airline flights, driving energy prices higher, and posing safety risks for vulnerable people. Authorities have placed about half of the United States under a wind-chill warning or cold-weather advisory. Temperatures were expected to be 14 to 19 degrees Celsius below normal from the central United States to the southeast, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Six deaths have been reported across the country since a polar air mass swept over North America during the weekend, producing many of the coldest temperatures in two decades. New York City hit a record low temperature for this date—negative-16 Celsius—but with winds gusting to 50 kilometers per hour, conditions felt far colder, the NWS said. Chicago saw temperatures of negative-23, Detroit negative-21, Pittsburgh negative-17, and Boston negative-15. In Washington, two of the three metropolitan-area airports saw record low temperatures for this date of negative-16. In the normally mild south, Atlanta recorded its coldest weather on this date in 44 years, when temperatures fell to negative-14. Temperatures in northern Florida also briefly fell below freezing (0 degrees), though the state's valuable citrus crop was unharmed. The shocking cold disrupted many Americans' morning commutes Tuesday with icy or closed roads and a huge number of flight delays or cancellations. More than 2,200 U.S. flights were canceled, and nearly 2,000 were delayed. Almost 1,200 flights have been cancelled or delayed at Chicago's two airports, where temperatures were below negative-20 on Tuesday morning.
