Shockingly cold places in USA include Kentucky, which is colder than Anchorage
Much of the nation stayed hunkered down on Tuesday as the final edges of a major winter storm zoomed out to sea after cutting a 1,100-mile west-to-east swath from the central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic.
It also led to some unusually cold temperatures in some surprising places. Louisville, Kentucky experienced "bitterly cold" temperatures in the teens. Earlier in the day, Anchorage, Alaska, was a comparatively balmy 40 degrees Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
There were colder spots than Louisville though. In the Great Plains, Kansas City winds brought "bitterly cold wind chills from -5 to -15 degrees," according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures were 15 to 20 degrees below typical seasonal averages.
This is January, so it's supposed to be cold, but much of the nation is seeing temperatures that are chilly even for this time of year.
Here's a look at some of the coldest spots in the USA right now:
Big cities hit by cold
- Denver, Colorado, faced an unseasonably cold day, with highs not expected to reach much above the 20s, the Weather Service said, and temperatures that will fall into the single digits overnight.
- Chicago was getting freezing drizzle and then temperatures potentially reaching into the mid-to-upper 20s. But on Wednesday that was expected to drop a little, making it the coldest day in an already cold week.
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was slightly milder, reaching a high of near 26, which could go up to 28 on Thursday, the Weather Service said. Though it will go as low as 12 degrees overnight.
- Detroit warmed up nicely to a high of near 28 degrees Tuesday, though that's expected to drop down to 16 overnight, with more snow coming on Wednesday.
- New York City was expected to reach an almost mild 32 degrees, though wind chill could bring that down to between 15 and 20.
- Boston temperatures could reach as high as 28 degrees on a day the Weather Service describes as "blustery," though overnight that will dip down to about 18 degrees.
Cold in the Mid-Atlantic
Folks in the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic were digging out Tuesday from Monday's winter storm, confronting bitterly cold temperatures and an icy, frozen landscape.
- Charleston, West Virginia, was still getting snow on Tuesday and in the Appalachian Mountains some areas could get temperatures as low as -20 degrees, NWS said. But along the Kanawha River in Charleston, temperatures were only expected to bottom out to the single digits.
- Columbus, Ohio, temperatures were expected to reach as high as 25 degrees in the afternoon, but then fall to as low as 8 overnight, with snow flurries still coming down.
- Pittsburgh faced an anticipated high of 25 degrees and light snow.
- Washington D.C., which got walloped by between 6 and 10 inches of snow, was warming up to a high of 34 Tuesday, with temperatures in the area ranging from the upper 20s to low 30s, the Weather Service said.
Cold in the South and South-Central
Temperatures even dipped below freezing in the southern U.S., ahead of the next winter storm forecast to hit the region later in the week.
- Louisville, Kentucky, forecast called for "bitterly cold temperatures" with morning lows in the teens and things not warming up much past the 20s. Sub-zero temperatures are possible Thursday morning.
- Oklahoma City was hoping for a high of 31 degrees Tuesday afternoon, with the Weather Service warning that unseasonably colder temperatures would persist through the weekend. Another wave of snow is expected on Thursday.
- Nashville, Tennessee, was about the same, though the Weather Service said temperatures in the "mid 30s" might be possible. But it could drop down into the teens on Wednesday night.