A blast of arctic air continued to sweep across the United States Tuesday, bringing record-low cold temperatures and putting 140 million people under wind chill advisories or warnings.
Nearly 80% of the country experienced subzero temperatures overnight, with the cold air expected to continue throughout the day, NBC News reported.
Subzero wind chills expected to continue
“Subzero wind chills will continue to affect much of the Rockies, Great Plains, and Midwest into Tuesday with wind chills below minus 30 extending as far south as the central plains and mid Mississippi Valley,” the National Weather Service predicted.
Temperatures are expected to rise midweek before colder air will hit the the northern Plains, the Midwest and the South by the end of the week.
At least 7 dead due to cold weather
At least seven people died due to the freezing temperatures over the weekend.
Officials say that three homeless people were found dead, likely due to hypothermia, in the Milwaukee area, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, four people died due to winter storms in Portland.
Over 1,500 flights in the U.S. have been canceled
The winter weather also caused widespread delays and flight cancellations Tuesday.
As of Tuesday morning, at least 1,500 flights within, into, or out of the United States were canceled, according to FlightAware. The number is expected to rise throughout the day.
An additional 3,000 delays were also reported as of Tuesday morning.