Record cold grips deep south, northeast

Phil Sears/AP

As temperatures dipped into the 20s, a group of Florida State fans keep a fire going as they watch the third quarter of the NCAA BCS National Championship college football game against Auburn outside their campus house late Monday night. Luckily for them, Florida State won.

The deep south has been sucked into the 'polar vortex.'

Bone-chilling cold has frozen the southern half of the country, putting officials on high-alert as possible historic low temperatures turn deadly and dangerous.

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The latest blast of arctic air will threaten records across the region. Monroe, La. already notched a new record late Monday with its mercury reading of 20 degrees. That bested a previous record that has stood since 1959.

'This is the coldest air mass our region has seen in nearly 20 years,' an alert on the weather service's Shreveport website. The area hasn't experienced a mercury nose dive like this since February 1996, when temperatures were in the teens and single digits for three days, it said.

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Before the frigid streak is snapped, forecasters expect 187 million people to be impacted by the bitter cold. The deep freeze has paralyzed commuters on the air and rails. Roughly 1,800 flights were canceled nationwide, and 400 more were delayed, according to FlightAware.com, which monitors departures and arrivals. Rail riders weren't spared, either, as more than 500 Amtrak passengers were stranded in Chicago due to whipping snow.

Temperatures in several southern states were remarkably lower than the nation's most arctic areas of Kodiak, Ala.

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Kodiak's early morning temperature of 39 degrees was balmy in comparison to Savannah, Ga. (20), Montgomery, Ala. (14) and Greer, S.C. (7).

The terrifying dip in temperatures has made it even too cold to ice skate. The rink at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta was closed Monday night, officials said.

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Trains in the metropolitan city will move at a deliberatly slower pace and several school systems are closed.

'This is severely cold for these parts,' said Brian Lynn, a Weather Service meteorologist in Peachtree City, Ga.. 'Single digits are a rare event.'

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The Louisiana Public Service Commission ordered utility companies not to cut gas or electric on delinquent customers.

Plumbers statewide are preparing for an influx of busted pipes and headaches as homeowners huddle indoors to avoid the cold.

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The frigid blast has given school kids an unexpected day off, several parish school systems cancelled classes on Tuesday.

In South Carolina, roughly 5,000 customers are without power early Tuesday morning as residents huddle for warmth. Counties across the state have opened emergency shelters for those who need to escape the cold.

Wind chill readings made it feel as frosty as 7 degrees in parts of Hilton Head, S.C.

Even the animals are seeking shelter as the south copes with unprecedented cold. The North Carolina Zoo was shuttered due the icy climate.

The northeast has also been pulled into the vortex of teeth-chattering cold.

The high in New York City is expected to barely hit 10 degrees. The wind chill will make it feel like 10 below.

There is relief in sight just beyond this arctic blast. Temperatures throughout the nation are expected to climb back into the 30s, 40s and even 50s in parts of the country.

With News Wire Services