(AP) — Now comes\u00a0even more frigid weather\u00a0in the U.S. Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Extreme cold with near-zero degree wind chills descended upon parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin, forecasters said Tuesday, even as utilities\u00a0worked to restore power\u00a0to thousands of customers after\u00a0heavy snow and strong winds\u00a0pummeled parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes and the Northeast this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cold front follows a system that barreled across the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes with strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a\u00a0bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nick Korstad, who lives in the Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior, called the storm the strongest he has seen since he moved there in 2018, with gusts up to 75 mph (121 kph) rattling the house as waves pounded the cliffs below. The storm knocked out power for about 40 hours, darkening the lighthouse beacon and forcing him to rely on oil lamps and fireplaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen winds reach this magnitude, the entire house rumbles, the windows flex and you can feel the pounding of the waves against the sandstone cliff,\u201d Korstad said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wisconsin\u2019s forested Northwoods region will see temperatures drop as low as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius), said Cameron Miller, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn New Year\u2019s Eve wind chills could be down to the negative 20-25 degree (minus 29-minus 32 degrees Celsius) range there,\u201d Miller added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationwide, about 60,000 customers were without power Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frigid air will spread across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, the weather service said, powering the\u00a0lake-effect\u00a0\u201csnow machine\u201d in areas downwind of the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In New Jersey, an animal shelter scrambled to line up foster homes for at least 30 dogs after snow damage to some of its kennels. Snow from a weekend storm apparently tumbled from a neighboring roof onto roofing that covered rear sections for some of the roughly 125 kennels at the Associated Humane Societies\u2019 shelter in Newark, social media manager Olivia Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Repairs can\u2019t begin until the animals move elsewhere. \u201cWe definitely need to band together and move these dogs out of this building as quickly as possible,\u201d she said. After a social media appeal, two dogs were settled in foster households, though six new stray dogs came into the shelter, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Snow totals in parts of western and upstate New York could reach up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) this week, forecasters said. Strong winds on Monday knocked down trees and power lines across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video posted on social media showed people struggling to walk in the wind. Just south of Buffalo in Lackawanna, Diane Miller was blown off the front steps of her daughter\u2019s house and landed in some bushes. She wasn\u2019t seriously hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI opened her door and the wind caught me, and I went flying,\u201d Miller told WKBW-TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the West Coast, strong\u00a0Santa Ana winds\u00a0with isolated gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph) brought down trees in parts of Southern California where\u00a0recent storms\u00a0had saturated the soil. With more rain expected, LA County issued evacuation warnings to go into effect Wednesday for residents near burn scars left by this year’s\u00a0devastating wildfires. Law enforcement went door-to-door telling residents to be prepared to leave if ordered to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n