Deep freeze
hits southern U.S.

THE COLDEST TEMPERATURES in more than a decade threatened Florida’s $53 billion agriculture industry, and growers rushed to save orange crops and winter vegetables.
       Wind chill warnings and advisories were issued for more than two dozen states.
       In Washington, D.C., the wind chill made it feel like below zero. In Cleveland, a wind chill was expected later in the day that would make it feel like 10 to 20 degrees below zero. More than 100 schools closed or delayed classes, while water main breaks caused havoc in the city, which has not been above freezing since Jan. 10.
       
Snow ranging from a dusting to up to 12 inches blanketed the Carolinas, Tennessee and parts of Virginia, closing schools and snarling commutes. Cleveland County, N.C., got as much snow in a few hours as it usually gets in a year.
 

Elsewhere in the nation, temperatures weren’t much better. Light snow moved into the western Dakotas; it was cloudy and gelid in the remainder of the Northern Plains and Midwest.
       The thermometer dropped to minus 9 in Kansas City, tying a record low set in 1963.

THAWING OUT NEXT WEEK
       A sagging jet stream from Canada has allowed freezing air to sink farther south into the United States.
       The cold air should shatter records throughout the Southeast on Friday, the National Weather Service said.