A large arctic cold front is sweeping across the United States this week, causing freezing temperatures and icy road conditions that have so far led to the deaths of at least four people in the Midwest.
The record cold is spreading from the Plains eastward toward the East Coast, and is expected to continue spreading freezing temperatures south and east toward the Ohio Valley into Tuesday, according to theNational Weather Service.
Three people — a 57-year-old man and two women, aged 64 and 81 — died in a two-car crash outside of Lansing, Michigan, the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office said in astatement.
“It is believed that the very poor road conditions were a factor in this crash, however it remains under investigation,” the statement read.
Snow in Chicago.Scott Olson/Getty
Meanwhile, Cassie Ralston, 8, was killed on U.S. Highway 56 in Kansas City after the driver of a pickup truck lost control on an icy highway, crossed the center line, and hit head-on the SUV in which Ralston was riding as a passenger, theAssociated Pressand Fox affiliateWDAFreported.
That accident was one of many; the Kansas City Police Department reported 109 injury accident calls between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., while the Missouri Highway Patrol reported 199 calls for service, according to NBC affiliateKSHB.
Snow in Nashville.
The National Weather Service warns that record low temperatures in the teens and 20s will hit Wednesday morning along the East Coast, the Ohio Valley, and as far south as the upper Texas coast, and that citizens should prepare for it to “feel like the middle of winter” in those areas.
Snow is also expected thanks to the development of a low-pressure area that is developing along the arctic front, and areas from the Tennessee Valley, along the Appalachians and upstate New York into northern New England should expect flurries.
Snow has already hit in Chicago, where aplane slid off the runway at Chicago O’Hareairport on Monday morning. No one was injured, an American Airlines spokesperson told PEOPLE in a statement.
Temperatures will rise again on Thursday as the high pressure system’s center moves off of New England and toward the Canadian Maritimes.
source: people.com
