NEW YORK: The eastern United States and Canada shivered under record-breaking low temperatures Saturday as Arctic blasts followed a deadly winter storm that left airports struggling to cope with the backlog of flights.
In Canada, temperatures approaching minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit) were forecast in northern Ontario and Quebec.
Arctic air and dangerously cold wind chills could bring temperatures that feel as low as minus 45 Fahrenheit across much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States, with the risk of frostbite to exposed skin within 10 minutes, authorities warned.
The big chill follows a winter storm, dubbed a "bomb cyclone" by forecasters, which has been blamed for at least 19 deaths in the United States, from Texas to Wisconsin, US media reported.
The storm raked the East Coast with heavy snowfall, glacial temperatures and high winds, forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights and causing thousands more delays.
The US National Weather Service warned that below normal temperatures are likely to continue into early next week, forecasting freezing rain from Kansas to Tennessee, and said that ice could complicate road transport.
In the Midwest and Northeast, the highest temperatures were likely to be 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average, potentially breaking a number of daily records, forecasters warned.
"It will be a brutally cold weekend but some relief is in sight heading into early next week," the weather service said.
Mount Washington, New Hampshire recorded the second-coldest temperature on earth early Saturday, minus 36 Fahrenheit.
The temperature in New York, the US financial capital and home to 8.5 million, hovered Saturday around 14 Fahrenheit, with the Hudson River along the west side of Manhattan partially frozen.
In eastern Canada, which has suffered through extreme cold for two weeks, there were further flight delays and cancellations at the Montreal and Toronto airports, and some communities along the Quebec coast faced flooding.
