Frigid air follows snow in US Northeast storm

Washington, Philadelphia, New York and other Northeast cities reeled early Wednesday from the punch of an arctic storm followed by sub-zero wind chills. The storm, which dumped 8 inches of snow in Washington and a foot or more in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, was followed by single-digit temperatures and sharp winds that sliced early-morning temperatures to as low as 15 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Airlines canceled nearly 1,600 passenger flights as of early Wednesday morning, after canceling about 3,000 Tuesday as the storm blustered through the Middle Atlantic states and into New England, hugging the Atlantic Coast and picking up moisture and strength as it moved north. Winter storm warnings and watches were in effect for all or part of 13 states as the governors of Delaware, New Jersey and New York issued states of emergency. A blizzard warning was in effect for Cape Cod, Mass., and surrounding areas. The storm moved into the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday morning. Left behind, besides snow, were frigid temperatures 10 to 25 degrees below average across the eastern half of the nation, with bitter wind chills, the National Weather Service said. The blowing, frigid air -- with single-digit lows from Kentucky to New England -- will likely remain until the weekend, the service said. A second frigid weather system moving moving down from Canada will plunge low temperatures into the double-digit minus degrees along the border, CNN said. Whipping winds will knock the wind chill down to 20 to 40 below zero from the North Central region south to northern Missouri.