Polar Vortex roars across the US

Snow covers vehicles in a rental car parking lot
 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. 

A winter storm's unrelenting march across the United States' northern tier brought snow to a handful of states on Sunday and promised plunging temperatures that could drive frost as far south as Atlanta by week's end.

"It may not set records, but it will be really, really cold," Bruce Sullivan, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Centre said. "The thing is, it's not even winter yet."

Parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin were among states blasted Sunday by a band dumping up to 20 centimetres of snow more than a week before winter officially begins. A few areas, such as Granite Falls, Minnesota are reaching double-digit accumulations.

On Monday the snow was forecast to roll into Upstate New York and parts of New England. A wide swath of the region could see up to 15 centimetres, with more in the mountains. New York City was bracing for snow Sunday night that was expected to turn to rain by Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Polar Vortex roars across the US.”