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As arctic air grips U.S., single-digit temperatures hit South

Overnight wind chills made the temperature feel even colder
Millions face coldest day yet from arctic blasts 02:25

The blast of arctic air taking hold of much of the U.S. has made its way to the South, with temperatures in places like Alabama dipping to the single digits.

Even in the heart of winter, Memphis, Tennessee, averages around 41 degrees, but as CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, overnight chills made Memphis feel like -1 degrees.

Memphis hasn't seen temperatures this cold in more than two decades.

"I knew it was going to be cold, but not as cold as it is today," a Memphis resident said, laughing. "We're frozen."

Volunteers with the sheriff's office went door to door, making sure senior citizens had heat.

"We wanted to make sure that everything was okay because the temperature will be dropping tonight, and we wanted to make sure that you have adequate heat," said Jacqueline Nisby, a community services volunteer coordinator for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

"Yes, I'm warm," the resident responded.

Across the country the deep freeze has turned hazardous. During a snow storm in Pennsylvania, a pile-up involving 18 vehicles left two people dead and dozens more injured.

In Michigan, drivers were faced with white-out conditions.

Blinded by snow, one family said they endured 16 miles of terror after their car rammed into the back of a tractor trailor, latched on and dragged for nearly half an hour.

"We're traveling on I-75, it was snow blinding. We ran into a semitruck and he's not stopping and our car is embedded underneath of it," a family member said in a 911 call.

The truck driver didn't realize an entire family was trapped behind the semi until police intervened. No one was seriously hurt.

"Sixteen miles of complete and utter helplessness. We had no control of anything," the father Matt Menz said.

And in Chicago, where wind chills hit -25 degrees, firefighters battled a house fire even as their uniforms froze over.

"When you get ice like this is actually gives you a shell so your body temperature stays warmer," Norwood Fire Department's Randy Davis said. "It's all about helping people helping the community. ... People say it's in our blood."

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