Midwest braces for polar plunge as Bay Area enjoys mild temperatures
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Bundle up, Midwest! You're in for a doozy of ridiculously cold air this week. Don't take it from me. ABC7 Mornings Meteorologist Mike Nicco puts it into perspective pretty well.
"An entire generation has lived without feeling temperatures 40 and 50 degrees below zero," he said. "And we'll be at 90 to 100 degrees warmer than they are Wednesday morning! How about that!?"
Just try telling that to people from the Midwest! We caught up with travelers at San Francisco International Airport where almost half of all flights were delayed or cancelled. Some called Bay Area weather a cakewalk.
"It was so lovely we were wearing t-shirts and shorts. It's 41 degrees and we love it!" said one traveler with a laugh, while toting around luggage and a winter jacket.
My producers thought it would be fun to send me into the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank freezer to get an idea of how cold Midwest weather can be. But even the freezer at just 4 degrees isn't as cold as what our counterparts at our sister station in Chicago are dealing with.
Reporter John Garcia says they're dealing with snow but bracing for record-breaking cold windchill on Wednesday that could hit 50 degrees below zero.
Many Minnesota public schools have already cancelled classes. Teacher Sean Foley's district in Bloomington is on winter weather watch but hasn't made the call to cancel just yet. Temperatures there, are expected to dip to below 30 by Tuesday night and 20 degrees colder than that factoring in wind-chill.
"My students were very disappointed we had school today, but we did get some learning done," said Foley with a laugh. The educator says he expects a decision on cancelling school to happen sometime Monday evening.
The National Weather Service tweeted out an image showing their technology predicting some of the most northern spots of the United States reaching minus 81 degree temperatures by the middle of the week.
Watch the latest AccuWeather forecast and take a look at recent weather stories and videos.
