KILLER FREEZE: Four DEAD as killer Arctic freeze grips America: US battles coast-to-coast sub-zero temperatures with windchill as low as minus 70F:

A deadly Arctic blast will continue sweeping across the U.S. on Monday and linger through at least midweek, subjecting nearly 100 million Americans to weather warnings while prolonging a bitter cold that has killed four people already, including an Oregon woman who died when a fire spread from an open-flame stove after a tree fell on to her RV.

In the Dakotas and Montana, forecasters predict a wind chill of minus 70, which can cause frostbite almost instantly. Officials have implored members of the public to remain home. Similar temperatures will be felt from the Northern Rockies all the way to Kansas.  In the northeast, blinding snow has brought the region to an almost standstill. 

In Buffalo, New York where snowfall of 1 to 2 feet was forecast, severe conditions saw thundersnow – a bizarre phenomenon in which thunder and lightning occur during a snowstorm. 

The weather system threatens to further disrupt daily life, including an NFL playoff game and the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in Iowa.

In the Hawkeye State, the wind chill will leave temperatures feeling  testing the hardiness of caucusgoers willing to brave the deep chill on Monday.

‘You can’t sit home,’ former President Donald Trump told supporters Sunday. ‘If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it.’ Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.’

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing near-whiteout condition ahead of the Bills playoff clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

‘Conditions right now in Orchard Park, where the game would have started moments ago,’ she wrote early Sunday afternoon. ‘No visibility and dangerously high winds.’

The Bills invited diehard fans to help dig out snow-filled Highmark Stadium, offering $20 an hour for their labor.

‘We made progress shoveling, but not much at all,’ said Logan Eschrich, a storm chaser who made his way to Buffalo and pitched in.

It remains to be seen if the show will go on Monday afternoon. The weather service expects heavy lake-effect snow to push into upstate New York from Lake Erie, adding to the 1 to 2 feet of snow already blanketing the region. Snow fell at a rate of 2 inches per hour.

‘It takes a matter of minutes for frostbite to set in,’ the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said in a statement Sunday urging people to stay indoors.

Other parts of the country could see temperatures drop 25 to 40 degrees below normal, from the Rockies to the Ohio Valley.

As temperatures in Texas plunged, the state’s power grid operator appealed to residents to voluntarily conserve electricity Monday morning due to the cold weather causing ‘record breaking demand’ for energy.

A deadly freeze in 2021 left millions of Texans without power but state officials this week expressed confidence about the grid’s reliability as the cold front approached.

Freezing rain is expected to pelt parts of the Southern Plains and Southern Appalachians.

Even places like Florida won’t be spared from turbulent weather, with forecasts predicting showers and thunderstorms from Monday into Tuesday.

In Oregon, more than 120,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, most of them in the Portland metro area, a day after high winds and a mix of snow and ice brought down trees and power lines.

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