A weekend of ferocious winter weather could see low-temperature records set in the US heartland

**Winter Weather Iowa** The Iowa State Capitol Building is seen in the distance in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

**Winter Weather Iowa** crashed semi trucks sit abandoned along Interstate 80 in central Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A sign supporting former President Donald Trump's bid for the Republican party's nomination for president sits along Interstate 80 in central Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Oregon** A parked car is damaged from a fallen tree in southeast Portland, Ore., on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. The Portland area saw high winds and temperatures in the teens. Downed trees caused damage and power outages around the region. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP)

**APTOPIX Winter Weather Iowa** An American flag is seen fixed to a farm fence along US Highway 20 during a blizzard near Galva, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

**APTOPIX Winter Weather Oregon** Chico Bunch, with the Oregon Department of Forestry, uses a chainsaw to cut a downed tree into smaller pieces after it fell on a car and a home on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

**Winter Weather Nebraska** Vicki Kramer, director of the Nebraska Department of Transportation, motions to a map of the state's roads and current closures as she speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, at the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency in Lincoln, Neb. Gov. Pillen declared a state of emergency due to the extreme winter weather Nebraska has experienced over the past week. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

**Winter Weather Maine** Amber Vallee pushes water down Walnut Street in Lewiston, Maine, Saturday morning, Jan 13, 2024, after snow turned to rain during yet another storm of mixed precipitation hit the area. "I wish it was all snow. I'm tired of this slush that will turn into ice at the bottom of our driveway." she said while keeping a path open for the rain and melting snow to flow into a nearby storm drain. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A person walks in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

**Winter Weather Oregon** A motorist drives on SW Pacific Highway on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

**Winter Weather Iowa** An crashed semi truck sits abandoned along Interstate 80 in central Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** Men use snow blowers to clear a sidewalk in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

**Winter Weather New Jersey** Water overflows from the Passaic River after heavy rain floods a neighborhood in Paterson, N.J., on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

**Winter Weather** In this photo provided by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area skiers ride a lift during a snowfall at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend began, the weather forecast was a crazy quilt of color-coded advisories, from an ice storm warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern Plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico. (Peter Morning/Mammoth Mountain Ski Area via AP

**Winter Weather** In this photo provided by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area a sculpture of a Mammoth stands near a ski lift at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend began, the weather forecast was a crazy quilt of color-coded advisories, from an ice storm warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern Plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico. (Peter Morning/Mammoth Mountain Ski Area via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A truck moves along the snow-blown eastbound lane of US Highway 20 during a blizzard near Sac City, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A snowy US Highway 20 is seen during a blizzard near Galva, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

**Winter Weather** In this photo provided by Madison McKinney, 95 snowmen are displayed in the front yard of Philip Spitzley's home after a snowstorm in Lake Odessa, Mich., on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. Spitzley's family created them to surprise him on his 95th birthday. (Madison McKinney/Breaking Bread Photography via AP)

**Winter Weather Football** Miami Dolphins guard Austin Jackson walks on the field during the first half of the team's NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

**Winter Weather Oregon** People rest at Friendly House which opened as an emergency warming shelter on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

**Winter Weather Chicago** A jogger runs up Cricket Hill in the Uptown neighborhood after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. | (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** Snow blows across 260th street at the Interstate 29 overpass in Salix, Iowa, during a winter storm, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A sculpture of the Statue of Liberty that is part of a Creative Steel custom art display is seen at Port Neal Welding Company in Salix, Iowa, during a winter storm, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

**Winter Weather Chicago** Snow covers the Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park after a winter storm, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

**Winter Weather** A pickup truck is driven down a snow covered road under an Iowa Caucus sign, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

**APTOPIX Winter Storm Illinois** People clean a path from snow in front of a school in Wheeling, Ill., Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

**Winter Weather Chicago** Allison Melowsky and wife Sarah Melowsky sled down Cricket Hill with their kids Parker, 7, and Zane, 4, in the Uptown neighborhood after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Chicago** Quinlynn, 6, screams as she sleds down Cricket Hill in the Uptown neighborhood after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Chicago** Friends Parker Melowsky, left, 7, and Quinlynn, 6, walk up Cricket Hill, which overlooks the Chicago skyline, in the Uptown neighborhood after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Chicago** Kelly Schoenfelt, center, her daughter Quinlynn, left, 6, and Parker Melowsky, 7, run up Cricket Hill in the Uptwon neighborhood with sleds after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** Snow continues to fall over the American Gothic Barn on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Blizzard conditions will develop in eastern Iowa later Friday until around noon on Saturday. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Chicago** A person takes pictures of Lake Michigan's strong waves near Foster Beach in the Edgewater neighborhood after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Chicago** A person looks at Lake Michigan's strong waves near Foster Beach after a major snowstorm hit the Chicago area, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

**Winter Weather Oregon** Brian Elsey, of Portland, Ore., cleans off his boss's car before heading home on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Portland. Brutally cold weather could prove a deadly challenge Saturday amid a continuing wave of Arctic storms that has hammered much of the country with blinding snow, freezing rain and whipping winds. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A snow plow clears the roadway on Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A sign advises motorists against traveling on Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** Trucks make their way along Interstate 80 in central Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

**Winter Weather Iowa** A road sign on Interstate 38- in Des Moines, Iowa advises that Interstate 80 is impassable due to weather in central Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. Heavy snow and high winds led the National weather service to issue a blizzard warning for much of the state of Iowa. (Nick Rohlman /The Gazette via AP)

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O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Icy winter weather blanketed the U.S. on Saturday as a wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low-temperature records in the heartland, spread cold and snow from coast to coast and cast a chill over everything from football playoffs to presidential campaigns.

As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend began, the weather forecast was a crazy quilt of color-coded advisories, from an ice storm warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern Plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico.

“It’s, overall, been a terrible, terrible winter. And it came out of nowhere — two days,” Dan Abinana said as he surveyed a snowy Des Moines, Iowa. He moved to the state from Tanzania as a child years ago, but said “you never get used to the snow.”

The harsh weather in Oregon played a role in three deaths.

In Portland, medical examiners were investigating a hypothermia death as freezing rain and heavy snow fell in a city more accustomed to mild winter rains, and hundreds of people took shelter overnight at warming centers.

Portland Fire and Rescue also reported the death of a woman in her early 30s on Saturday afternoon. An RV caught fire when a small group of people used an open flame stove to keep warm inside and a tree fell on the vehicle, causing the fire to spread. Three other people escaped, including one with minor injuries, but the woman was trapped inside, the fire department said.

Authorities in Lake Oswego, Oregon, said a large tree fell on a home during high winds Saturday, killing an older man on the second floor.

Weather-related deaths already were reported earlier in the week in California, Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced a state of emergency, citing “very dangerous conditions.” Up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow fell in some areas over the past week, and wind chills were well below zero.

“This event is not going away tonight. It’s not going away tomorrow,” Pillen said at a news conference “It’s going to take a number of days.”

About 1,700 miles (2,735 kilometers) of Nebraska highways were closed. State police assisted more than 400 stranded motorists, said Col. John A. Bolduc, head of the Nebraska State Patrol.

In Iowa, cars were stuck for five hours in blowing snow on Interstate 80 after semitrailers jackknifed in slippery conditions. State troopers had handled 86 crashes and 535 motorist-assist calls since Friday, State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said.

Road crews were “working the snow-blowers like crazy,” Dinkla said, but high winds were blowing snow right back onto roadways.

Governors from New York to Louisiana warned residents to be prepared for worrisome weather.

Parts of Montana fell below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) Saturday morning, and the National Weather Service said similar temperatures were expected as far as northern Kansas, with minus 50 F (minus 46 C) possible in the Dakotas. In St. Louis, the National Weather Service warned of rare and “life-threatening” cold.

“We’ve had, now, multiple back-to-back storms” parading across the country, weather service meteorologist Zach Taylor said. That typically happens at least a couple of times in the U.S. winter.

Still, to Eboni Jones of Des Moines, it felt unusual for “how much we’re getting all within one week.”

“It’s pretty crazy out,” Jones said while shoveling snow.

Grant Rampton, 25, also of Des Moines, braved a wind chill of minus 20 F (minus 29 C) to go sledding with friends at a golf course, fighting off the cold by wearing layers of clothing and insulated socks and keeping in constant movement.

“It’s a great state to be in,” said Rampton, a lifelong Iowan. “There’s not as much to do, in winter especially, but you can make your own fun, like out here, sledding with your friends.”

The temperature in parts of Iowa could dip as low as minus 14 F (minus 26 C) on Monday, when the state’s caucuses kick off the presidential primary season. And forecasters said it would be Wednesday before below-zero windchills go away.

Republicans Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump all canceled campaign events because of the storm.

Electricity was out Saturday afternoon in hundreds of thousands of households and businesses, mainly in Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin, according to poweroutage.us.

In Yankton, South Dakota, the temperature was minus 15 F (minus 26 C) in the evening. Police there said plows were “freezing and breaking,” so they would not operate until conditions improve. The Minnehaha County Highway Department also pulled its plows “due to low visibility and extreme cold temps.”

In other places, if the problem wasn’t snow and wind, it was water: Record high tides hit the Northeast, flooding some homes in Maine and New Hampshire.

The coastal Northeast was pounded by 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of rain in the morning, and a storm surge amplified what was already the month’s highest tide, National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Cempa said. In Portland, Maine, a gauge recorded a 14.57-foot (4.4-meter) difference between high and average low tide, topping a prior record of 14.17 feet (4.3 meters) set in 1978.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a “dangerous storm” as she announced that the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL playoff game was postponed from Sunday to Monday. Residents of the county that includes Buffalo were told to stay off the roads starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, with the forecast calling for 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) or more of snow and winds gusting as high as 65 mph (105 kph).

Kansas City, Missouri, hosted a frigid playoff game Saturday night between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. It was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) at kickoff, easily setting a record for the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium.

Still, hundreds of fans lined up hours beforehand outside the Arrowhead Stadium parking lots, some with ski goggles, heated socks and other winter gear they bought for the game.

Chiefs season ticket holder Keaton Schlatter and his friends had considered trying to sell their seats, as many other fans did.

“But we decided that it’s all part of the experience, and we didn’t want to miss it,” said Schlatter, of West Des Moines, Iowa.

In Oregon, Robert Banks, who has been homeless for several years, stood outside his blue tent along a Portland street in the afternoon, wearing one glove as sleet pelted him. He said he wanted to secure his belongings before making his way to a shelter.

“I lived in Alaska for a number of years,” he said. “The wind and the wet cold is different from dry tundra cold … oh, it is bone-chilling.”

The snow was welcome in at least one place.

Philip Spitzley of Lake Odessa, Michigan, woke up Friday to 95 small snowmen in his front yard to celebrate his 95th birthday. Fifteen family members and a neighbor collaborated on the snow-packing job, which took about 90 minutes.

“I was quite surprised,” Spitzley said. “I sat right here watching my TV and didn’t know they were out there. Then I saw flashlights.”

The display has turned into a spectacle as motorists slow down for a look. And with days of cold weather ahead, “they’ll be there awhile,” Spitzley said.

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Peltz reported from New York. Nathan Ellgren and Mark Vancleave in Des Moines, Iowa; Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri; Julie Walker in New York; Ed White in Detroit; Nick Perry in Meredith, New Hampshire; Jennifer Kane in Portland, Oregon; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.