© Mark Lennihan / Associated PressA wind chill made it feel like a few degrees below zero Monday morning as these folks waited for a bus in New York City.
Two people froze to death, including one woman whose frozen body was found on a driveway, as an Arctic blast hit the northern U.S., dropping temperatures as low as minus 36 degrees.
The wind chill in some areas of New England was expected to make it feel as cold as 50 degrees below zero.
Schools in western and northeastern Pennsylvania, across upstate New York and parts of Vermont and New Hampshire closed their doors or delayed openings to protect students.
In upstate New York, the National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and warnings for much of the region on Monday, including the Adirondacks where the low was 36 below in Saranac Lake early Monday morning.
The Arctic temperatures led Amtrak to suspend rail service Monday morning between Albany and New York City because the extreme cold affected signals and switches. Amtrak hoped to resume limited service between the two cities later Monday. Other rail lines are still running.
In Montpelier, Vt., it was 21 below at 7 a.m.
"Snot-freezing cold," was how Kelly Walsh, 28, described it, walking home from an auto parts store after buying a new battery for her car, which wouldn't start Monday morning.
"I usually really like it. Today is a bit of nuisance," she said.
Others agreed.
Will Forest, a 53-year-old web designer who was walking to work, called the cold "indescribable."
