Publication Date March 5, 2019 | USA TODAY

220 million freeze as Arctic blast chills US; Thousands in California ordered to flee as storm hits

United States
Neighbors dig out a driveway on Rockhill Street in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Monday, March 4, 2019, after the area received well over a foot of snow in an overnight storm. Photo: Mark Stockwell, AP
Neighbors dig out a driveway on Rockhill Street in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Monday, March 4, 2019, after the area received well over a foot of snow in an overnight storm. Photo: Mark Stockwell, AP

More than 200 million people across the nation awoke to freezing temperatures Tuesday, including people in the Southeast, where search-and-rescue efforts continued after tornadoes killed at least 23 people in Alabama Sunday.

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Temperatures in some parts of Montana in February were nearly 30 degrees below average, AccuWeather reports.

In the first few days of March, temperatures have been even more extreme. The temperature hasn't been above zero in Great Falls, Montana, since March 1, Kines said.

"I know it's Montana, but more than three days in a row below zero? That's just amazing," Kines said.

On Monday, dozens of record lows were set all the way from Washington state to Texas. Everyone shivered again Tuesday. Wind-chill values around zero degrees were reported through parts of the Midwest. It was 4 degrees in Denver on Tuesday morning, 10 degrees in Chicago, 11 degrees in St. Louis.

All balmy compared to the 22 degree-below-zero reading that greeted residents Tuesday morning in Butte, Montana.