A8
NATION / WORLD
East Oregonian
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Heavy snow hits parts of Midwest; dangerous cold coming
By IVAN MORENO
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — Heavy
snow and powerful wind
created blizzard-like condi-
tions Monday across parts
of the Midwest, prompt-
ing officials to cancel about
1,000 flights at Chicago’s
airports and close hundreds
of schools. But forecasters
warned the most dangerous
weather is yet to come: frig-
idly low temperatures that
the region hasn’t seen in a
quarter century.
Snowplow drivers had
trouble keeping up with the
snow in Minnesota and Wis-
consin, where some areas got
as much as 15 inches. Chi-
cago-area commuters woke
up to heavy snowfall, with
more than 5 inches already
on the ground. In Michigan,
non-essential government
offices were closed, includ-
ing the Capitol.
But the snow is only
“part one, and maybe even
the easier part” because
temperatures will plummet
over the next three days,
said Brian Hurley, a mete-
orologist with the Weather
Prediction Center.
Wednesday is expected
to be the worst. Wind chills
in northern Illinois could
fall to negative 55 degrees,
which the National Weather
Service called “possibly
life threatening.” Minne-
sota temperatures could hit
minus 30 degrees with a
wind chill of negative 60.
“You’re talking about
AP Photo/Joshua Clark
An employee of Pozorski Hauling & Recycling collects trash during a snowstorm Monday in Manitowoc, Wis.
frostbite and hypothermia
issues very quickly, like in
a matter of minutes, maybe
seconds,” Hurley said.
The
potentially
record-breaking low tem-
perature forecast in Milwau-
kee is negative 28 degrees,
with a wind chill as low as
negative 50. The current
record of minus 26 degrees
was set in 1996.
“That’s
40
degrees
below normal,” Hurley said.
“When you think about it
in that sense, that’s a big
‘whoa.’”
Cold weather adviso-
ries are in effect across a
broad swath of the central
U.S., from North Dakota to
Missouri and spanning into
Ohio. Temperatures will
be as many as 20 degrees
below average in parts of the
Upper Great Lakes region
and Upper Mississippi
Valley, according to the
National Weather Service.
The unusually frigid
weather is attributed to a
sudden warming way above
the North Pole.
A sudden blast of warm
air from misplaced Moroc-
can heat last month made
the normally super chilly
air temperatures 20 miles
above the North Pole rapidly
rise about 125 degrees. That
split the polar vortex into
pieces, which then started to
wander, according to Judah
Cohen, a winter storm
expert for Atmospheric
Environmental Research,
a commercial firm outside
Boston. One of those polar
vortex pieces is responsible
for the sub-zero tempera-
tures across the Midwest
this week.
Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel urged residents to
check on their neighbors and
take safety precautions. He
said city agencies are mak-
ing sure homeless people are
in shelters or offered space
in warming buses.
Hundreds of schools
were closed across Michi-
gan as road conditions dete-
riorated, including East-
ern Michigan University.
The largest public school
districts in Wisconsin and
Minnesota also were among
those closed, including dis-
tricts in Milwaukee and St.
Paul. Minneapolis Public
Schools announced there
would be no classes through
Wednesday. The cold also
prompted officials to close
some schools in eastern
Iowa, while Chicago Pub-
lic Schools officials said
they were monitoring the
weather ahead of Wednes-
day’s cold snap.
In eastern North Dakota,
officials have issued travel
alerts because of blow-
ing snow. The Minnesota
State Patrol was respond-
ing to scores of spinouts and
crashes early Monday in
the Twin Cities metro area
because of snow-covered
and icy roads.
More than 800 flights
were cancelled at Chicago
O’Hare International Air-
port Monday morning and
Midway International Air-
port canceled more than
220. The high tempera-
ture forecast at O’Hare on
Wednesday is negative 14
degrees, which would break
a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.
Courthouses and most
offices were closed in Mil-
waukee, Waukesha, Colum-
bia and Washington coun-
ties, while more than three
dozen flights were canceled
early Monday at the Mil-
waukee area’s largest air-
port, Mitchell International
Airport.
Rare snowfall was also
forecast for some southern
states. Forecasters warned
of up to 3 inches of snow
in central Mississippi and
Alabama by Tuesday morn-
ing and said temperatures
will plummet as arctic cold
blasts southward.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey
issued a state of emergency
ahead of the storm.
U.S. hits Venezuela with oil sanctions to press President Maduro’s exit
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
The Trump administration
imposed sanctions Monday
on the state-owned oil com-
pany of Venezuela, a poten-
tially critical economic
move aimed at increasing
pressure on President Nico-
las Maduro to cede power to
the opposition in the South
American nation.
Maduro’s increasingly
isolated government would
lose access to one of its
most important sources of
income and foreign cur-
rency along with around
$7 billion in assets of
Petroleos De Venezuela
S.A. under the sanctions
announced by Treasury Sec-
retary Steven Mnuchin and
national security adviser
John Bolton.
The move follows the
unusual decision by the U.S.
and other nations last week
to recognize the opposi-
tion leader of the National
Assembly, Juan Guaido,
as the interim president of
Venezuela instead of Mad-
uro, who was re-elected last
year in an election widely
seen as fraudulent. The once
prosperous nation has been
in an economic collapse,
with several million citi-
zens fleeing to neighboring
countries.
“We have continued to
expose the corruption of
Maduro and his cronies, and
today’s action ensures they
can no longer loot the assets
of the Venezuelan peo-
ple,” Bolton said at a White
House news conference.
Bolton said he expects
Monday’s actions against
PDVSA — the acronym for
the state-owned oil com-
pany —will result in more
than $11 billion in lost
export proceeds over the
next year.
Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo stressed that the
new sanctions do not tar-
get the people of Venezuela
and will not affect humani-
tarian assistance, including
medicine that is “desper-
ately needed after years of
economic destruction under
Maduro’s rule.”
The sanctions will not
likely affect consumer
prices at the gas pump but
will hit oil refiners. Venezu-
elan oil exports to the U.S.
have declined steadily over
the years, falling particu-
larly sharply over the past
decade as its production
plummeted amid its eco-
nomic and political crisis.
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