Bitter cold wind chills have caused scores of schools to close Tuesday in northeast Ohio.
Many communities — especially east of Cleveland — have seen up to 8 inches of snow, and are forecasted to get more, since Sunday. But the big weather story now is cold.
Meteorologist Jason Nicholas expects wind chills to drop as far as 18 degrees below zero by Tuesday morning, and that means that schools do not want to ask kids to come out in the cold to wait for the bus or walk to school.
Frostbite can set in at temperatures as warm as 30 degrees. When it is this cold, the time it takes for frostbite or hypothermia to hit lowers drastically.
Doug Turner, a Parma paramedic and firefighter, urged people to be prepared for the worst, even if you think you'll only be outside for a few minutes.
"Just think, what if something happens? What if you slip and fall, what if you get locked out of your own house?" he said. "It doesn't take long for hypothermia to set in when it's this cold."
