Jillian Hansen, a senior at the University of Minnesota, walks to class yesterday Anthony Souffle/TNS/Newscom
Daniel Cusick reports for E&E News
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesotans awoke this morning to sunshine and the coldest temperatures in a generation, testing the state’s capacity for stoicism amid the most extreme polar vortex since 1996.
Thermometers in the Twin Cities dropped to minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit before dawn, and overnight wind chills made it feel like minus 55 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minn., just outside Minneapolis, posted a photo early today showing its Nimbus digital thermometer reading: minus 30.
Overnight temperatures in northwest Minnesota dropped to minus 42, while wind chills fell to minus 64 in the city of Park Rapids, approaching temperature records dating to the 19th century. Several communities in southern Minnesota broke low temperature records set in the 1950s.
Thousands of power outages were reported last night, and Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, warned that demand for home heating was placing a strain on its natural gas supplies. About 150 customers in the Princeton area about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis lost heat, utility spokesman Matt Lindstrom said, and were given hotel rooms for the night.
The utility suggested residents in some parts of the state lower their thermostats and supplement their home heating with electric space heaters.
Hawaii native Charles Henry stayed at a shelter last night in St. Paul and said he was grateful to have a place to stay out of the cold.
“That wind chill out there is not even a joke,” he said. “I feel sorry for anybody that has to stay outside.”
At least one death in Minnesota was attributed to the cold snap, but it occurred on Sunday in Rochester, before the extreme temperatures set in yesterday evening.
Schools across the state remained closed for a third consecutive day, and the U.S. Postal Service said it would not deliver mail in Minnesota, citing concerns about mail carriers’ safety. Similar mail delivery postponements were issued in parts of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to the Associated Press.
The situation in other major Midwestern cities was little better.
In Chicago, deteriorating conditions led to the cancellation of 1,300 flights at O’Hare and Midway airports, and Amtrak canceled all trains to and from Chicago’s Union Station.
Commonwealth Edison reported about 7,000 power outages in the city’s southern suburbs extending into northwest Indiana.
Nearly 400,000 Chicago children will not attend public schools today or tomorrow. In Milwaukee, public schools remained closed for a fourth consecutive day as temperatures flirted with record overnight lows last night, and Mayor Tom Barrett suspended all nonessential city services.
The governors of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin declared states of emergency. “I want to make sure all state assets are available, including the Wisconsin National Guard if needed, to help communities across the state and keep people warm and safe,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said.
Temperatures moderated slightly in the eastern Great Lakes. Detroit reported temperatures of minus 6 degrees this morning, while northeast Ohio registered a pre-dawn low of minus 8 and wind chills in the negative 20s.
Meteorologists said the coldest temperatures could be yet to come, as the slug of high Arctic air remains draped over the Great Lakes, affecting conditions as far south as Atlanta, where the Super Bowl is set to be played — indoors — on Sunday. In north Georgia and the southern Appalachians, wind chills early this morning were in the single digits.
Climate change and the polar vortex
Robust debates about the role of climate change in polar vortex events have also heated up over the last few days, fueled in part by President Trump’s provocative tweets conflating weather and climate.
On Monday, the president noted the wind chill forecast for the “beautiful Midwest,” adding: “People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming [sic]? Please come back fast, we need you.”
Scientists say the two phenomena — global warming and polar vortexes — are not mutually exclusive. In fact, indications are that a slug of exceptionally warm air penetrated the upper Arctic last month, causing the polar vortex to split, with one mass of super-cold air drifting southward over North America (Climatewire, Jan. 30).
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