NEW YORK — Winter storm warnings and plummeting temperatures put a chill on New Year’s Eve plans for hundreds of thousands of revelers.
Thousands of homes and businesses in the Midwest had no electric lights for the holiday because of wind damage.
Temperatures in the teens — and wind chills below zero — were forecast for midnight and the ball drop in New York’s Times Square and for the First Night celebration in Boston, where up to 11 inches of snow and high winds were forecast.
That was almost mild next to the upper Midwest, with temperatures as low as 33 below zero at Wahpeton, N.D., and 24 below at Brainerd, Minn.
Up to a million revelers, jammed tightly together by intense security, were expected to hunker down against the icy wind in Times Square to watch a five-minute blizzard of balloons and a ton of confetti.
But New Bedford, Mass., put its fireworks display off until Jan. 8, and Baltimore pushed its show back to tonight because of high winds.
The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings and advisories for parts of New England, upstate New York, northern Ohio, northern Minnesota and North Dakota, and sections of Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
