Sub-zero winds grip central, eastern U.S., schools close

(Reuters) - Schools in Chicago, Boston and other large cities closed on Thursday as sub-zero temperatures and bitter winds gripped central and eastern United States for a third day and meteorologists warned there was little relief in sight.

An Arctic air blast from Canada hit the U.S. Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with many areas around minus 10 Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), the National Weather Service said.

"It's the face - it's like being hit with a sheet of ice," Bart Adlam, 40, president of U.S. yogurt supplier siggi's, said as he rode a bike through Times Square on his way to work at 8 a.m. in New York City, where the wind chill made 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12C) feel like 2 below (minus 18C), according to Weather.com.

Snapping pictures of Times Square's neon billboards surrounding them, Tibor Bernath, 25, and his mother, Erika Suto, 50, of Hungary said the frigid temperatures would not stop them from visiting the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street.

"We're determined to see all the sights. But I can't even feel my hands," said Bernath, a British Airways flight attendant.

In northern New York state's Adirondack Park, the temperature in the village of Saranac Lake dropped to minus 24 overnight.

"While it looks like the high pressure responsible for the cold will last another day or two and then move to the east, another shot of cold air will be coming into the north-central states toward the weekend," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Broyles said.

The service said frostbite could set in with just 15 minutes' exposure to the frigid air and advised people to keep pets indoors. Driving could be treacherous in areas hit with blowing snow and icy roadways, it said.

Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest U.S. school district with 400,000 students and almost 800 institutions, told students to stay home and indoors for a second straight day as temperatures dropped to between 20F and 30F below average.

Schools also were closed in Boston, Milwaukee and Indianapolis.

Sledding hills and cross-country ski areas were shut down around Chicago. In South Dakota, the city of Sioux Falls closed six ice-skating rinks, saying there was a risk of wind chill.

The weather service issued wind chill alerts for Chicago, Minneapolis, and other cities. Overnight wind chill values in most areas reached minus 15F to minus 25F.

The weather service said blizzard conditions were forecast for parts of North Dakota and Minnesota on Thursday. In South Dakota, blowing snow and low viability would continue through the day.

"It makes the conditions extremely hazardous to travel," Broyles said.

Temperatures also plummeted to an uncharacteristic 10 to 15 degrees across the Gulf Coast overnight, where a hard freeze warning was issued for east Texas across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and southern Georgia, Broyles said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York, Mary Wisniewski in Chicago, Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Letitia Stein in Tampa, Todd Epp in Sioux Falls, Kim Palmer in Cleveland, Steve Bittenbender in Louisville, and Todd Melby in Minneapolis; Writing by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Bill Trott)