Arctic Monday for 140 million as 'POLAR VORTEX' barrels across the US: 4,400 flights canceled, schools closed as far south as ATLANTA and the coldest temperatures recorded in 20 years

Nearly 187 million people, more than half of the nation's population, were under a wind chill warning or advisory on Monday
The coldest temperature reported in a 24-hour period through Monday was -36 degrees at Crane Lake, Minnesota, while the warmest was 84 at Hollywood and Punta Gorda, Florida
Minnesota officials took the rare step on Monday of closing all public schools; schools in St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee were also shut and schools in Washington D.C. and Atlanta will also be closed on Tuesday
Thousands of flights have been canceled and JetBlue shut down its operations in Boston and New York-area airports in an attempt to correct the backlog of canceled flights; it will resume as normal tomorrow
Experts have called the temperatures and freezing winds 'dangerous and life threatening' - warning that skin can freeze in just ten minutes in wind chills of minus 50; parts of Minnesota could be hit with wind chills of minus 60
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency covering 13 counties in the western part of the state on Monday afternoon and more than 300 Army and Air National Guard have been mobilized.

Otters and Science News