Weather security

A ferocious blast of bitterly cold air straight from Siberia was roaring through the eastern and southern USA on Wednesday, dropping temperatures to historically low readings as far south as Florida.

"This could be some of the coldest weather since the mid-1990s for parts of the Southeast U.S., Mid-Atlantic and central Appalachians," said meteorologist David Hambrick of the National Weather Service.

Highs on Thursday and Friday will struggle to get out of the teens in many of those areas, and overnight lows could reach zero degrees or even lower in spots, Hambrick said. Dozens of records will be threatened as temperatures plummet to as much as 25 to 30 degrees below normal for this time of year, the weather service warned.

Siberian express: Record cold attacks East, South