Across the US, temperature records are falling faster than this week's snowflakes in Erie, Pennsylvania, and it's only going to get worse.
From Portland, Maine, to Danville, Virginia, temperatures fell overnight Friday to lows not seen in decades. It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit in Worcester, Massachusetts, breaking a record that had stood since 1903.
In Duluth, Minnesota, it felt like it was minus 44 degrees Saturday morning.
"It's so cold, people can't even walk their dogs without risking frostbite, says CNN meteorologist Jennifer Varian.
About 70 million people, mainly in the Northeast and Northern Plains, were under a wind chill alert Saturday morning. That's up from an already whopping 30 million a day earlier.
It felt like it was minus 38 in Minneapolis, minus 12 in Chicago, minus 6 in Boston, but it's not just the north that's grappling with the cold. Temperatures will also be unusually low as far south as Texas and Georgia.
More records are expected to topple in the coming days -- as many as 25 new lows could be set on New Year's Day, the National Weather Service says.
"Just grab everything in your closet and put it on," said CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. "That's the best thing I can tell you. Everything you own, just layer up."
And Erie? After being slammed with more than five feet of snow this week, the city could be in for even more. Lake-effect snow is expected to continue in the area, from Rochester, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio.
The good news for Erie: the lake may be frozen over by the end of next week, which will cut off the lake-effect snow.
