There's cold winter weather, and then there's the cold winter weather that's about to put the Midwest and much of the nation in a deep freeze tomorrow. As one meteorologist puts it: "All the ingredients are there for a near-record or historic cold outbreak. If you're under 40, you've not seen this stuff before." Think 25 below zero in Fargo, 31 below in Minnesota, 15 below in Chicago, and 7 below for the kickoff of the Packers' playoff game in Green Bay. Factor in the wind, and it could feel like 60 or even 70 below in spots, reports AP. (There's a -73 on the map for Grand Forks on Monday.)
This is a separate weather system from the one that just buried the Northeast in snow, and it's not a one-day fluke. CNN notes that about half the nation will have a temperature of zero or below by Wednesday. That extends as far south as Alabama; many parts of the Deep South won't get out of the teens. And the same meteorologist quoted earlier says the system could freeze over the Great Lakes, resulting in colder-than-normal temperatures through the end of winter. See AccuWeather for more specifics and a map. (More winter weather stories.)