Cold Weather

If the last time you got dressed for cold weather meant you were waddling around like the Michelin man, please consider your options. The best winter dressing -- the clothes that will take you from the slopes to Sundance -- isn't about inflated coats and baggy snow pants. This season, cold weather gear is being sculpted into sexy, cinched shapes that will keep in the warmth while still showing off the power Pilates sessions suffered each week.

As temperatures plummeted into the single digits across the Midwest on Saturday, residents reached for their thermal underwear, worried about the possibility of frozen pipes and huddled indoors as an Arctic wind chill made it feel like 20 below zero. In some spots, it felt even colder. As winds and cold air blew in from the northwest, the National Weather Service reported that parts of Minnesota and North Dakota were hit with wind-chill temperatures as low as 35 below.

The worst snowstorm in a half-century is wreaking havoc on China's economy, destroying crops and livestock, paralyzing transportation and disrupting operations at countless factories and companies. A senior Chinese official said Friday that the brutal weather conditions, which have claimed at least 60 lives, had caused economic losses of about $7.5 billion over the last three weeks. But analysts said the toll would be much higher.

Southern California on Saturday got a taste of the Arctic blast that is expected to bring heavy winds, bone-cold temperatures, snow and rain to the region through Monday night. Gusts of up to 70 miles per hour were predicted for the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties early today, and meteorologists warned motorists to expect blowing snow and icy roads on the 14 Freeway south of the Antelope Valley and Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and the Central Valley.

Temperatures fell over the ice-coated Northeast on Saturday, where storm-related power failures had already plunged more than a million homes and businesses from Pennsylvania to Maine into the dark and cold. "If you don't have power, assume that you will not get it restored today, and right now make arrangements to stay someplace warm tonight," warned Gov. John Lynch of hardest-hit New Hampshire.

With her 5-week-old baby asleep face-down across her lap, Erica Richardson settled into a chair at the Union Rescue Mission and reviewed her strategies for staying sane while living with an infant in a homeless shelter. The key is to get away from the shelter during the day, the tired-looking 33-year-old said. Head to the park, to a friend's house, to any place where she can pretend, for a while anyway, that she is just another mom on an outing.

Robbie Gould kicked a 38-yard field goal with 11 minutes 28 seconds left in overtime and the Chicago Bears overcame frigid conditions and the Green Bay Packers for a 20-17 victory Monday night to stay in the running for the playoffs. Chicago's Alex Brown blocked Mason Crosby's 38-yard field-goal attempt with 18 seconds left in regulation to preserve a 17-17 tie and send the game into overtime.

The latest winter storm to hit Southern California is expected to dump 1 to 3 inches of rain today in coastal and valley areas and up to 5 inches of precipitation in the mountains. "This storm is out of the Pacific Northwest," said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "It was up around San Francisco and is gradually moving toward us," he said. "We'll probably see some showers out ahead of it, but the brunt of it will be on Christmas Day."

After starting the week with hot winds and temperatures in the 80s, Southern California will end it with an extreme cold spell, raising concerns about crop damage, road conditions and the health of the frail and elderly. Overnight temperatures are expected to dip into the 20s in local valleys, and snow levels in the mountains could drop to 1,000 feet, said Jamie Meier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

An arctic cold snap rolled into California on Friday, dropping the snow level below 1,000 feet, destroying millions of dollars in crops and leaving a rare dusting of snow in unexpected places, including Montclair, Chino and even downtown Riverside. Forecasters said it would only get colder this weekend.