Want a real scare? Open your phone’s weather app and check the forecast for Chicago. This Wednesday, the high is -12 degrees. Negative 12. And those below-freezing temps—and the snow and ice that come with them—are spreading. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather warning for extreme wind chills through Thursday from the Dakotas to Maine, with notices that “the dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 5 minutes.”
Beyond affecting people on the ground, the extreme winter weather (caused by a polar vortex bringing air from the Arctic) is freezing travel schedules, too. Amtrak has cancelled all trains in and out of Chicago (about 55 total), according to CNN. And as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 30, more than 2,000 flights have been canceled for Wednesday, when temperatures hit their lowest, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Monday and Tuesday saw a combined 3,300 canceled flights across the U.S., too. Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports have seen the brunt of these cancellations—and if you have a layover in the Midwest, there’s a good chance it’s at O’Hare—but St. Louis Lambert International Airport and Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport also face cancellations and delays because of snow and freezing temperatures. Farther south, Atlanta is expecting snow, too, causing major delays and cancellations at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
For the full story, visit CNTraveler.com/News.
