People advised to stay indoors as schools close ahead of chill

Authorities urged US residents to stay indoors and stock up on food after a fierce winter storm killed 11 people and forecasters said the Arctic blast could bring record-low temperatures.

There was no sign of a weekend letup in the brutal chill that since the start of 2014 has gripped parts of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, prompting New York and New Jersey to declare states of emergency.

After heavy snowfall on Thursday, one of the coldest Arctic outbreaks in the past two decades is set to plunge America's Midwest close to record cold.

It hasn't been this cold for decades - 20 years in Washington; 18 years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 15 in Missouri. WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue said, "If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."

According to Bob Oravec, a US National Weather Service forecaster: "The last really big Arctic outbreak was 1994. Outbreaks like this don't occur every day."

Preceded by snow in much of the Midwest, the frigid air was expected to begin on Sunday, reaching as far south as the Gulf Coast. It is caused by a "polar vortex',' a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air.

In such conditions, exposed skin can become frostbitten in five minutes, forecasters said.

Authorities have urged people in the worst-hit areas to spend the first weekend of the new year at home, both for their own safety and to allow rescue and cleanup teams to work unimpeded.

Chicago schools will be open on Monday despite the cold, but officials advised parents to "use their own discretion" in deciding whether to send their child to school.

"Chicagoans are a hearty bunch," said Matt Smith, spokesman for the Chicago department of family and support services.

"But when temperatures get as cold as they are predicted, you want to start thinking out things in advance," the Chicago Tribune newspaper quoted him as saying, adding that the department had advised people to stay indoors and ensure they have medical supplies and food.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton announced schools will be closed on Monday "to protect all our children from the dangerously cold temperatures".

Officials in Kentucky, which could see up to 20 cm of snow and freezing cold, were warning people to avoid road travel and stay indoors.

"If you don't need to be out, stay in, stay home," said Buddy Rogers, spokesman for Kentucky Emergency Management.

Schools will remain closed in Nashville, Tennessee, until Wednesday, a day after winter break was supposed to end, local officials said.

The storm has been the first big test for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose term began on Wednesday.

"If you want safe, clear streets, stay home," he said on Friday.

In an unrelated incident, New Yorkers' attention was at least temporarily distracted from the weather when a private plane was forced to land on a highway in the city's Bronx borough due to engine trouble, injuring the pilot and two passengers.

Thousands of domestic and international flights have been canceled or delayed in several US cities, including at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, while thousands of miles of roads were also snarled.

AFP - AP - Reuters

(China Daily 01/06/2014 page12)