Americans were bundling up Saturday as the coldest weather of the season was forecast to sock cities from Chicago to New York and Boston, with temperatures that have already prompted weather service warnings.

The coldest weather in two years slammed Minnesota, where International Falls -- which proudly proclaims itself the "Icebox of the Nation" -- recorded a shocking 46 degrees below zero (-43 Celsius).

The Friday temperature tied the town's coldest reading since it began keeping records in 1897.

By Saturday morning it had risen to a balmy -13 degrees (-25 C), the town's airport reported, but the forecast wind-chill factor was far colder, and the National Weather Service issued a hazard advisory warning of frostbite and "life-threatening hypothermia."

Much of New York state and the US northeast region known as New England will see temperatures barely reach the Fahrenheit teens on Saturday, forecasters at The Weather Channel (TWC) reported.

Friday's -4 degrees (-20 C) in Chicago marked the coldest January 21 in the Windy City in 27 years, broadcaster WGN reported.

January regularly brings frigid cold to the US heartland and the northeast, but the latest chill is exceptional, several meteorologists have said.

"We have got an Arctic chill in store" for much of the eastern half of the United States, TWC said, with temperatures as much as 25 degrees below average.

Meteorologists were also forecasting yet another major snow storm to hammer parts of the US southeast and northeast by the middle of next week, the latest in a series of storms that have canceled thousands of flights and left cities scrambling to clear deep drifts of snow.

Residents in Minnesota appeared to be taking the winter blast in stride.

"We're used to that. Well, maybe not 46 below, but we're used to the cold," Addie Khalar, a reserve postmaster in Babbitt, told the Duluth News Tribune, which reported that many people did not let the cold snap deter them from ice fishing or playing outdoor hockey.

"You plug in your car. You keep it in the garage. You dress for it. And you show up for work," Khalar said.

earlier related report
Snow hinders Lunar New Year travel in China
Shanghai (AFP) Jan 21, 2011 - Snow blanketing southern and eastern parts of China hampered travellers returning home for the Lunar New Year celebrations, with air, rail and road traffic severely disrupted, state media said Friday.

The snowfall in southern China this week has been the worst so far this winter, the China Meteorological Bureau said. Heavy snow has also fallen in central Hunan and eastern Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces.

China's 40-day annual Lunar New Year peak travel period began this week, when travellers are expected to make 2.6 billion trips on trains, planes, boats and buses.

On Thursday, snow forced hundreds of flight delays and cancellations as airports in the eastern cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Hangzhou struggled to cope with the winter weather.

Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports suffered delays to 500 flights, while airports in Hangzhou and Chongqing were forced to shut for hours due to ice and snow, the China Daily reported.

Three trains were cancelled at Shanghai's main railway station and 20 others suffered delays, while 250 buses travelling from neighbouring provinces failed to arrive at Shanghai's long-distance bus terminal, the newspaper said.

Sections of eastern Jiangxi's major expressway were closed with traffic jams stretching for 20 kilometres (12 miles) in the city of Jiujiang, the report said.

Snowfall in the south was expected to lighten from Friday, but low temperatures were expected to persist, the national weather bureau said.

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