Deep Freeze Hits Northern States
(AP) — Temperatures dropped to breathtaking levels, well below zero, in extreme northern sections of Maine early Monday.
Thermometers registered 34 degrees Fahrenheit below zero at Van Buren, 27 below at Presque Isle and 26 below at Allagash, the National Weather Service reported.
In the northern Rockies, Butte, Mont., registered 32 below at 8 a.m. – with a wind chill of minus 47, the weather service said.
Another of the nation’s usual cold spots, International Falls, Minn., managed only 16.1 below zero, but even after the sun came up its temperature of 14 below combined with 6 mph wind for a wind chill of 29 below zero, according to a weather service Web site.
As the cold air blew across Lake Ontario, it picked up enough moisture to produce 3 feet of lake-effect snow Sunday in New York’s Oswego County. The roof of a public works garage holding snow removal equipment collapsed early Monday in Fulton, N.Y., under the weight of 37 inches of snow, and the town declared a state of emergency. The region at the east of Lake Ontario often gets heavy lake-effect snow.
“We’re digging out,” said state police Sgt. Edwin Croucher in Fulton. He reported multiple accidents caused by the storm but no serious injuries.
