The coldest, most dangerous blast of polar air in decades gripped the U.S. Midwest and pushed toward the East and South and eastern Canada on Monday, closing schools, grounding flights and forcing people to pull their hoods and scarves tight to protect exposed skin from nearly instant frostbite.
A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a "polar vortex" was expected to suppress temperatures in more than half of the continental U.S. starting into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.
Patrick O'Brien jogs around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis in his Spider-man costumeReutersA tourist catches snowflakes on her tongue in Times Square, New YorkReutersEastern United States viewed from NOAA-GOES satellite imageReutersNew York City bus on tyre chains as it is driven down 5th Avenue in the snowReutersBrad Sachs shovels snow from around his car near his home in Indianapolis, IndianaReutersA snow-covered bus shelter in downtown ChicagoReutersChicago skyline rises above mountains of snow along Lake MichiganReutersA man cycles along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, CanadaReutersA woman walks in cold temperatures through downtown Chicago, IllinoisReutersWalking across frozen Lake Harriet in south MinneapolisReutersDog-walker in Cedar Hill in New York's Central ParkReutersTravellers leave the Back Bay train and subway station in Boston, MassachusettsReutersA traveller reacts to news of delays at the check-in counter of JetBlue Airways terminal at John F Kennedy International Airport in New YorkReutersPedestrians skirt mounds of snow during bitter cold temperatures in downtown DetroitReuters
