Hercules Satellite Image This image taken on January 3, 2014 by the Suomi NPP satellite shows the blanket of snow that stretches from the Midwest across to New England after a massive winter storm moved over the region on January 1-3, 2014. (Source: NASA/NOAA) ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Mark Dayton moved Friday to cancel all public school classes statewide on Monday because of dangerous weather, the first such closing in 17 years. "The safety of Minnesota's schoolchildren must be...

This image taken on January 3, 2014 by the Suomi NPP satellite shows the blanket of snow that stretches from the Midwest across to New England after a massive winter storm moved over the region on January 1-3, 2014. (Source: NASA/NOAA) Winter Storm Hercules (in Greek mythology, Hercules is the son of Zeus and famous for his strength) brought heavy snow and bitterly cold air to the Midwest and northeastern portion of the U.S. just in time to ring in...

Hercules Satellite Image This image taken on January 3, 2014 by the Suomi NPP satellite shows the blanket of snow that stretches from the Midwest across to New England after a massive winter storm moved over the region on January 1-3, 2014. (Source: NASA/NOAA) Homeowners and motorists dug out across the white-blanketed Northeast on Friday as extreme cold ushered in by Winter Storm Hercules threatened fingers and toes but kept the snow powdery and mercifully easy to shovel. At least...

Winter Storm Hercules unleashed heavy snow and ferocious winds on the Midwest and Northeast this week, before exiting the East Coast of New England late Friday. Freezing temperatures with below-zero wind chills in some places complicated life for residents from Minnesota to Maine. At least 15 people have died and thousands have lost power to their homes and businesses. Several states also recorded significant snowfall totals. The National Weather Service said 21 inches of snow had fallen in Boxford, just...

Screen capture of The Weather Channel broadcast, featuring Charlie Welsh, showing wind chill temperatures valid at 8 a.m. EST Jan. 20, 1985. Nashville's wind chill of -56 would be -37 using the post-2001 wind chill formula, while St. Louis would be -48 instead of the -69 calculated in 1985. Does it seem like wind chills aren’t what they used to be when you grew up? There’s a reason. It’s not global warming – well, mostly not global warming. True, it’s...

After pounding the Midwest and Great Lakes during the weekend, snow fromWinter Storm Ionstarted to move intothe East. But the snow is just part one.The coldest air in nearly two decadesfiltered in from the Upper Midwest all the way to the Southeast. "The streets tonight are like ice skating rinks," said The Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel, reporting live from Indianapolis Monday evening. Parts of Indiana had seen 15 inches of snow before temperatures bottomed out Monday. More than 3,700...

Volunteers use a pontoon to move a car that has been cut off by floodwaters at Burrowbridge on the Somerset Levels on February 27, 2014 in Somerset, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) LONDON -- What used to be has moved across the Atlantic and is now hammering the United Kingdom with high winds and winter weather.. Britain's western coast is being lashed by high winds and strong rains following a month of unusually frequent winter storms. A steady procession of storms...

CHICAGO -- More than 500 Amtrak passengers who spent the night onboard three trains stranded in snow in northern Illinois are finally heading to Chicago. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says Tuesday that buses are transporting about 300 passengers from two trains near Mendota, about 80 miles from Chicago. (MORE: ) A third train loaded with 217 people spent the night at a rail yard in Galesburg, about 150 miles from Chicago. Magliari says Amtrak is still deciding whether to let...

((AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)) BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A splash of beet juice, a dollop of molasses, a squeeze of cheese brine. In the coldest weather, the recipe for safer roads often goes beyond the usual sprinkling of salt. Across the nation's snow belt, transportation officials are in the market for cheap and environmentally friendly ways to make rock salt work better by keeping it on the roads longer and melting ice at lower temperatures. Plain salt is largely ineffective below...

The Chicago skyline and a freezing Lake Michigan are seen from the Museum Campus in Chicago on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roads and schools were closed and flights canceled across upstate New York on Tuesday as a blizzard slammed the western part of the state while dangerously cold temperatures gripped eastern areas from the Adirondacks to New York City. The storm had dumped an estimated 15 to 18 inches of snow in some...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Fountains froze over, a 200-foot Ferris wheel in Atlanta shut down, and Southerners had to dig out winter coats, hats and gloves they almost never have to use. The brutal polar air that has made the Midwest shiver over the past few days spread to the East and the Deep South on Tuesday, shattering records that in some cases had stood for more than a century. The mercury plunged into the single digits and teens from Boston and...

Dangerous polar temperatures are breaking records across the eastern half of the United States for a second day. The frigid air comes after Winter Storm Ion dumped snow on the Midwest and Northeast. At least 21 deaths are blamed on the frigid temperatures and winter weather, but that number could rise dramatically as coroners in several states complete autopsies to confirm more weather-related deaths. With the bitter cold slowing baggage handling and aircraft refueling, airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights...