Polar Vortex In The Midwest Wreaking Havoc On Infrastructure, Kills At Least Eight
Near record low temperatures in the Midwest have caused thousands of flight and train cancellations, sweeping power outages and several deaths.
In Chicago, the temperature on Wednesday dipped to a low of around minus 23, just above the city’s historical low of minus 27 in January 1985. Other cities in the Midwest experienced similar bone-chilling temperatures, with Sioux Falls, South Dakota reaching minus 25 and Minneapolis reaching minus 27.
It’s a little cold in #Chiberia @barstoolWSD @barstoolcarl @RedLineRadio pic.twitter.com/jzhVQQnLAz
— TerryGreenbeans (@TerryGreenbeans) January 30, 2019
At least eight deaths resulted from the freeing weather, according to the Associated Press. An elderly man’s body in Illinois was found after he fell outside his home, a man from Milwaukee froze to death in his garage, an Iowa student was found behind an academic hall before sunrise, a man in the Chicago area was struck by a now plow, and a couple’s SUV in northern Indiana struck another vehicle on the snowy road.
The freezing temperatures brought the region’s transportation system to a standstill.
At least 2,700 flights were canceled nationwide on Wednesday — over half were located at Chicago’s two biggest airports. The airline havoc spilled into the next day, with an additional 1,800 flights scheduled for Thursday also getting cancelled. Numerous Amrtrak trains to and from Chicago were also called off, some of them cancelled until Friday.
The sub-zero temperatures also took a toll on power infrastructure, with the demand for heating so high that the circuits tripped and resulted in around 6,000 power customers in Indiana losing electricity.
Throwing a cup of boiling water in the air, when it’s minus 27 degrees (celsius). #chicago #PolarVortex2019 pic.twitter.com/fgRZHnwVvo
— Adam Roberts (@ARobertsjourno) January 30, 2019
“The tension goes way up the wire and gets tighter and causes poles to break,” said Otto Lynch, chief executive of Power Line Systems in Madison, Wisconsin, explaining how cold temperatures can cause overhead wires to contract. “The wires are usually not going to break. It’s really dependent on how the line was designed. Fifty years ago, they didn’t do a whole lot of engineering” for extremely cold temperatures.
What is causing these bone-chilling temperatures?
The extreme cold is being brought on by a split on the polar vortex. While the cold mass of air typically remains in the Arctic, the split has allowed it to move farther south. The phenomenon has actually resulted in colder temperatures in Chicago than Alert, a Canadian village just 500 miles from he North Pole.
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