Dangerous, record-breaking cold takes aim at KC

A dangerous, record-breaking chill is bearing down on the Kansas City area, with arctic winds expected to drive temperatures into the single digits by Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service said.

The trough of cold air is coming in behind the area’s first bout of snow-slickened roads Sunday morning that caused several minor accidents.

The new cold front is not expected to bring any significant precipitation, but that is about the only upside, as winds Monday and early Tuesday could bring wind chills below zero degrees.

The Midwest certainly knows what these blasts feel like, but the first one is coming much earlier this year, said meteorologist Pamela Murray of the National Weather Service station in Pleasant Hill.

A “stubborn ridge” of high pressure created by Typhoon Nuri’s push across the Pacific created the disturbance that will send arctic air plunging across the middle U.S. all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, Murray said.

The lowest recorded temperature for Nov. 18 was 14 degrees in 1903, she said, so Tuesday’s low temperatures are likely to break that record.

Sunday morning’s weather problems for the area were slick roads.

The Kansas Highway Patrol was working between 10 and 12 minor accidents at 8:30 a.m., most of them on Interstate 35. A few minor accidents were also reported on Kansas 7.

The Missouri Highway Patrol was working eight accidents at 8:40 a.m., and Kansas City police were working six. Most involved vehicles sliding off roadways; none was serious.

This story was originally published November 16, 2014 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Dangerous, record-breaking cold takes aim at KC."