Shivering in the New Year

COLUMBUS – Ohioans welcomed the New Year with the numb fingers of people who have spent the past several days in bitterly cold weather.

The National Weather Service issued a Wind Chill Advisory for central Ohio until noon Tuesday with wind chill factors as low as 25-below-zero possible.

Air temperatures were as cold as 11-below-zero at Bolton Field in southwest Columbus Tuesday morning with wind chills of minus 20. Temperatures were even colder than that in other parts of Ohio


The icy temperatures that gripped much of the nation showed no sign of letting go for at least a few days.

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WBNS 10-TV meteorologist Jeff Booth predicted that Tuesday night would be mainly clear and frigid with lows near or below zero and another shot of arctic air on Thursday would bring high temperatures near 10 and subzero wind chills.

Bone-chilling cold gripped much of the central U.S. as 2018 began Monday, breaking century-old records.

Wind chill advisories covered a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming through New England.

Dangerously low temperatures enveloped much of the Midwest, forcing the cancellation of some traditional events held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

A planned polar bear plunge in Cleveland was cancelled because ice was too thick on Lake Erie. WKYC-TV says crews had a hard time digging a hole in the water by Edgewater Park.

Officials in Omaha cited the forecast in postponing the 18th annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks Spectacular that draws around 30,000 people. Temperatures hit 15 below zero before midnight Sunday in Omaha, breaking a record low dating to 1884.

Some events went ahead as planned, despite the forecasts and the weather.

Several people repeated an annual New Year’s Day tradition by plunging into the Maumee River near Toledo. The Blade reports temperatures hovered around 10 degrees Monday, much colder than last year.

First-time participants Christy Frank and Jackie Zoltaszek dressed up as unicorns. Frank told paper that overcoming a fun challenge seemed like a good start to the New Year.

Milwaukee residents braved wind chills of minus-20 and jumped into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan, though a similar event in Chicago was called off.

In northeastern Montana, the wind chill readings dipped as low as minus 58 and in Duluth, Minn., a city known for its bitter cold winters, the wind chill dipped to 36 below zero.

In Aberdeen, South Dakota, the mercury dropped to a record-breaking minus 32. The previous New Year’s Day record had stood for 99 years.

It was even cold in the Deep South, a region more accustomed to brief bursts of arctic air than night after night below zero. Frozen pipes and dead car batteries were concerns from Louisiana to Georgia as overnight temperatures in the teens were predicted across the region by Monday night.