Arctic Circle Air to Blast Midwest (Say Good Morning to Minus-43 Wind Chills, Minneapolis)

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

CHICAGO (AP) — An unusual weather pattern that drives air from the Arctic Circle south will send temperatures plummeting from Minneapolis to Louisville, Ky., and leave a huge swath of the country colder than Alaska.

Mike Hudson of the National Weather Service says the wind chill will make Minneapolis feel like minus 43 degrees Monday morning — far colder than the minus 4 degrees it will feel like in the nation's northernmost city of Barrow, Alaska.

An SUV ventures past the St. Augusta, Minn., city limits sign on Stearns County Road 136 in near white-out conditions Sunday afternoon, Jan. 26, 2014 south of St. Cloud, Minn. (Image source: AP/St. Cloud Times, Kimm Anderson)

That will be a shock for much of the Midwest. In Kansas City, Mo., the high temperature Sunday was expected to be 60 while Monday's high is forecast to be only 15.

Not only that, but the cold will stick around for a couple days. In Chicago, Hudson says, temperatures should remain below zero for 2½ days.