Most of Nation Shivers in Bitter Cold, High Winds

A snow-laden thunderstorm and winds gusting over 60 mph hit New England this weekend, as nearly 100 million Americans from Arkansas to Maine shivered in the cold, sometimes inside their homes.

It was the fourth winter barrage in less than a month for the northeast.  Boston attorney Frank Libby, out looking for a newspaper, said, "It's historic.  It's biblical."

Forecasters warned of hurricane-force winds on Cape Cod Sunday to go along with the snow and cold.  One Methodist church in Boston canceled services and welcomed calls for prayer by phone.

Another blast of Arctic air is ahead this week for the Midwest and much of the East Coast, and predictions are for the thermometer to reach lows for the season in the next few days.

Bangor, Maine, broke a record low Saturday morning at 23 degrees below zero.  And the high in Buffalo, NY reached only 3 degrees Saturday, its lowest high temperature in more than 20 years.

Even the Carolinas and Tennessee are experiencing Sunday temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below normal, with the wind chill making it feel like zero in parts of North carolina.

Massachusetts authorities called up hundreds of National Guard troops to help remove snow; total accumulation this season is now over 90 inches in some parts of the state.

In Maine, coastal winds severely reduced visibility.  "The wind is blowing hard.  It's hard to know if it's snowing or not because there's so much snow blowing through the air, said Suzannah Gale, co-owner of the Home Port Inn in the town of Lubec.  "It's piled up around the windows.  It's just piled up everywhere."

Even places used to cold and snow are feeling the freeze.  Temperatures in Chicago last Thursday topped out at 17 degrees--half the normal high for the date.

Northerners eager to escape the cold won't find much comfort in parts of Florida, either.  Sections of northern Florida were under hard freeze warnings on Friday, with a chance of more cold later this week.