St. Louis Snow and ice are seen covering up Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) The deep freeze finally startedto relent Wednesday afternoon, but problems still lingered across the eastern half of the nation. (PHOTOS:) As travel advisories lifted, drivers headed back to work. But some found stubborn, cold cars wouldn't start. AAA Mid-Atlantic reported Wednesday that calls for assistance reached unprecedented levels on Tuesday, when the deep freeze was at its worst....

Rapid Weather Changes to Start 2014 For many cities in the East, rapidly changing temperatures have been a common theme during the start of 2014. The latest temperature swing will arrive this weekend with many cities climbing 10 to 20 degrees above average. (MORE: ) Starting with Boston below, let's take a look at a few of the rapid changes some cities have dealt with since Jan. 1. Boston Beantown has seen it all from heavy snow and frigid temperatures...

Daily snow cover analysis from Nov. 20, 2013 to Jan. 16, 2014. Dates can be seen at the top of the animation. Theanimation above illustrates the evolving snow cover across the United States from Nov. 20, 2013 to Jan. 16, 2014.Each of the daily analysis maps were obtained from the(NOHRSC). Winter Storm NameDatesOct. 3-5, 2013Nov. 21-26, 2013Dec. 1-7, 2013Dec. 6-10, 2013Dec. 11-15, 2013Dec. 16-17, 2013Dec. 19-22, 2013Jan. 1-3, 2014Jan. 5-6, 2014 During this span of 59 days, the percentage of...

Wintry weather produced treacherous driving situations in Lafayette, Ind. Thirteen vehicles, including nine semitrailers, crashed in heavy snow Saturday on Interstate 65 near Lafayette and multiple smaller wrecks followed, Indiana State Police said. Weather observations within Lafayette,Ind. at the time of the crash indicate as much as four inches of snowfall. Winds were blowing out of the southeast at nine miles per hour. Due to the snowfall and fog in the area, visibility was reduced to three-quarters of a mile....

A snowman made with cookies and a red plastic cup sits in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Snow from Winter Storm Janus has been falling since early Tuesday and it's starting to pile up for some parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. With the bulk of the snow occurring late Tuesday and into early Wednesday. These numbers are expected to go up in the coming hours. (MORE: ) Below is a...

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) Winter Storm Ion delivered a one-two punch of snow and brutal Arctic air to parts of the central U.S. on Jan. 5-6, 2014. The worst impacts were in Indiana, where heavy snow and high winds led to severe travel difficulties and even closures on several major highways in central and northern parts of the state....

Typical Polar Vortex Position The Northern Hemisphere polar vortex frequently, but not always, has centers in two main areas: one near Canada's Baffin Island, and the other over northeast Siberia. No doubt you've heard the phrase "polar vortex" pinging around the news media. One of the coldest Arctic outbreaks in two decades hasplunged into country, bringingbitterly cold temperatures to the Midwest, South and East. (MORE: ) But is this polar vortex really behind this outbreak? What is a polar vortex...

The worst of the latest blast of bitterly cold air was at its strongest Monday night into Tuesday morning, and residents are begging for spring. And thanks to widespread school cancelations, parents were forced to bring their kids to work or leave them at home alone. "Dangerously cold temperatures will continue in the Midwest for the start of the work week with wind chills in the-20s,-30sand-40s," said weather.com meteorologist. "In Chicago, the low temperature Tuesday morning will rival the coldest...

A commuter walks against blowing snow Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in Chicago. Heavy, blowing snow is moving across much of Illinois as the state gets pelted by the latest round of winter weather. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) After blanketing the nation's heartland with snow and some ice Tuesday, Winter Storm Nika's final chapter disrupted millions in the Great Lakes and Northeast on Wednesday.Winter StormNikawas the14thnamed storm of the winter season in the U.S. and its pathincluded some of the same locations...

WASHINGTON – Cold and snow keep battering the Midwest and East, and even Atlanta was temporarily paralyzed. California has been bone dry. Alaska set heat records. The wild winter somehow became even more wicked Thursday morning when the national average temperature plunged to a brutal 11 degrees, prompting a weather-weary nation to ask a simple question: Why? The answer is the jet stream, the river of air that dictates our weather. (MORE: Cities Sick of Snow This Winter) "A persistent...

Winter Storm Orion,the 15th named storm of the 2013-14 winter storm season, brought much-needed snowfall to the West, bringing welcome moisture to a drought-parched region. The lion's share of the snow from Orion came Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 6-8, in the West. The primary disturbance then zipped across the Midwest and Northeast Sunday into early Monday, Feb. 9-10. A piece of Orion's energy broke off and brought some snow from Oklahoma and Texas to Kentucky on Friday and early Saturday,...

Overnight Wednesday and into Thursday, Winter Storm Pax made its way up the East Coast. The snow continued overnight Thursday for much of the region, with the storm tapering off throughout the day Friday. Some snow will persist into the afternoon hours Friday in northern New England near the Canadian border, with a new system possibility bringing additional snowfall to the I-95 corridor this weekend.For detailed, up-to-the-minute forecast information, click here. For information about Winter Storm Pax aftermath in the...