By Andrew Stern
 CHICAGO
(Reuters) - Arctic air spread bone-chilling cold across much of
the United States on Friday, delaying some air and rail travelers
and creating dangerous conditions for drivers and others venturing
out to shop for Christmas.
Some flights
were delayed at Chicago's Midway Airport when they couldn't be
refueled because fuel trucks refused to start, and problems with
iced-over rail switches and train engines idled some passenger
trains.
The below-normal
temperatures extended from the Northern Plains to the Florida
Panhandle, with the coldest reading of -24 degrees Fahrenheit
in International Falls, Minnesota. In Mobile, Alabama, people
shivered in 33-degree weather, the National Weather Service said.
"We're
getting reinforcing shots of Arctic air from central Canada --
there's just one shot after another," said NWS forecaster
Rich Naistat near Minneapolis.
Commuters
and shoppers in Chicago reluctantly braved near-zero temperatures
and blustery winds that made it seem colder. Motorists struggled
on icy streets pocked by newly formed potholes.
Chicago officials
warned landlords to maintain the heat in their buildings. Several
seniors in unheated apartments had to be taken to warming centers,
officials said.
Cold is nothing
new in Minnesota, where a record low of -60 degrees was recorded
in the North Woods hamlet of Tower on Feb. 2, 1996.
"We're
looking at temperatures to not get above 10 above zero through
next Thursday," Naistat said of Minnesota's bone-chilling
cold.
With up to
18 inches of snow on the ground and not due to melt any time soon
across the Plains and Midwest, "it will be a white and cold
Christmas," Naistat said.
Much of the
eastern two-thirds of the country were covered by a layer of snow.
But the cold
air that penetrated as far south as the Gulf Coast and northern
Florida was likely to disappoint snowbirds flocking South. In
Miami, for instance, residents donned sweaters to keep warm.
At Boston's
Logan International Airport, famed for its long delays even when
skies are clear, two-hour delays and long lines at ticket counters
were the rule as a steady snowfall snarled what was expected to
be the busiest travel day of the holiday season.
Delays were
also experienced at Philadelphia International Airport, according
to the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site, www.fly.faa.gov.
Except for
the equipment-related delays suffered by a single airline at Midway,
most Chicago flights were on time, enabling the 250,000 air travelers
expected to pass through O'Hare International Airport and Midway
to reach their destinations without significant problems, city
aviation spokeswoman Monique Bond said.
Hundreds of
travelers hoping for an easier time on the rails were disappointed
when Amtrak's "City of New Orleans" train between Chicago
and New Orleans was delayed
11 hours when
an engine conked out.
"We're keeping them warm and keeping them fed," Amtrak
spokesman Kevin Johnson said of the passengers.
A few other
trains passing through Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan were either
canceled or delayed, mostly by frozen switches, he said. Many
passengers were accommodated on buses.
|
