Icy Arctic Air Has Much of U.S. Reeling From Cold

Arctic cold air hammered away at the record books across the northern third of the nation again today, while in the Sun Belt snow spread from Arizona across the Plains, and major highways in the South were kept closed by ice.

The cold and ice has been blamed for 55 deaths since last Wednesday.

Schools and businesses were shut down because of cold and roads that resembled skating rinks in Alabama, New Mexico, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana, officials said.

Mississippi Gov. Bill Allain called a holiday for state workers in nonessential positions, who also had gotten a day off Friday because of ice and snow.

Many Sub-Zero Readings

The National Weather Service reported overnight lows colder than 20 below zero across Montana, northern Wyoming, North Dakota and northern Minnesota, down to 42 degrees below zero at both Butte and West Yellowstone, Mont. Sub-zero readings stretched from the northern Plateau to the northern Appalachians.

Record low temperatures in a dozen cities extended from Yakima, Wash., at 7 below zero, to Newark, N.J., at 7 degrees above zero. Today’s low of 12 below zero at Boise, Ida., shattered a record that had stood since 1899, while the minus 26 at Sheridan, Wyo., erased a record set only in 1982. Records also were broken in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

Unfavorable weather continued to delay plans by meteorologists to fly to Peter Sinks, Utah, to check an automated gauge that turned in a minus 69.9 reading Friday that could be the coldest ever in the 48 contiguous states.

Snow fell from Arizona and Utah across the central Plains to Missouri and Iowa, while parts of Texas had freezing rain.

Winter Storm Warning

A winter storm warning was posted for much of northern Arizona, where Flagstaff had 28 inches of snow on the ground. And for the third night since Friday, light snow that melted as it hit the ground was sighted early today at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, where it hadn’t snowed since 1976.

Temperatures edged upward in southern Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, but icy roads still made travel difficult in the northern parts of the states.

The 268 miles of Interstate 55 had been closed from Brookhaven, Miss., south of Jackson, to Memphis, Tenn., until sunset Sunday, when the Highway Patrol opened 90 miles on the southern end of that section.

North of Canton, Miss., however, the pavement was still slick.

‘Series of Wrecks’

“Troopers north of Jackson report a series of wrecks involving 18-wheelers on the closed section,” Patrol spokesman Ed Jussely said. “I-55 is impassable between Memphis and Canton.”

A 50-mile stretch of Interstate 20 was closed from the Mississippi River to Jackson.