Now comes even more frigid weather in the U.S. Midwest.
Now comes even more frigid weather in the U.S. Midwest.
Extreme cold with near-zero degree wind chills descended upon parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin, forecasters said Tuesday, even as utilities worked to restore power to thousands of customers after heavy snow and strong winds pummeled parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes and the Northeast this week.
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The cold front follows a system that barreled across the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes with strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.
Nick Korstad, who lives in the Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior, called the storm the strongest he has seen since he moved there in 2018, with gusts up to 75 mph (121 kph) rattling the house as waves pounded the cliffs below. The storm knocked out power for about 40 hours, darkening the lighthouse beacon and forcing him to rely on oil lamps and fireplaces.
“When winds reach this magnitude, the entire house rumbles, the windows flex and you can feel the pounding of the waves against the sandstone cliff,” Korstad said Tuesday.
Wisconsin’s forested Northwoods region will see temperatures drop as low as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius), said Cameron Miller, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wisconsin.
“On New Year’s Eve wind chills could be down to the negative 20-25 degree (minus 29-minus 32 degrees Celsius) range there,” Miller added.
