Bitter cold returns to snarl US

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The northeastern region of the United States shivered amid heavy snowfall and far-below-average temperatures on Wednesday in a storm that grounded thousands of flights and triggered traffic chaos.

The nasty weather, with its bone-chilling gusts and heavy snow, stretched from Washington to New England. The Midwestern US was hit hard as well.

Taking into account the wind chill factor, the temperature in Chicago plummeted to -28 C, the Chicago Tribune said.

In the nation's largest city, the Tuesday-evening commute home in New York was a mess, and the city was expected to get as much as 35 cm of snow by Wednesday morning.

The city's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, urged people to stay home so road crews could clear streets.

Downtown Washington fell eerily silent after the federal government, seeing the swift-moving storm approaching, closed its doors and told civil servants - who already had the day off on Monday for the national Martin Luther King Jr holiday - to stay home on Tuesday as well.

On Wednesday, federal agencies were scheduled to open two hours late. Employees could also take unscheduled leave, and those that could were allowed to work from home.

The nation's capital is famous for cowering in the face of even a few snowflakes, but Tuesday's storm seemed to justify a shutdown.

Many offices and schools followed suit, as winds of 32 km per hour whipped through Washington's unusually quiet streets.

Most area schools in the city and in the bordering states of Maryland and Virginia were scheduled to remain closed again on Wednesday.

Washington's public transit system reported half as many riders on Tuesday as on a typical weekday. Business was so slow that many restaurants used Twitter to woo customers with bargain-priced drinks, while others offered two-for-one deals.

In Philadelphia, as of early evening on Tuesday, the official total at the airport was 28 cm of snow, a record for Jan 21.

The "storm system will strengthen overnight in the Atlantic waters off the East Coast, spreading heavy snow and strong wind into coastal sections of New England and the Northeast," the US National Weather Service said.

Temperatures across the eastern part of the country on Wednesday will be well below average amid bitter wind chills, it warned.

FlightAware, a website that monitors air traffic in real time, said nearly 3,000 flights into, out of or within the US had been canceled on Tuesday.

Questions:

1. What was the temperature in Chicago on Tuesday?

2. How much snow was expected in New York City?

3. Who had the day off due to the snowstorm?

Answers:

1. -28 C.

2. 35 cm by Wednesday morning.

3. Civil servants in Washington DC, and many students in the area.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.