Continued Cold Weather Causing Problems on Roads

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Continued frigid temperatures across the Plains states, Midwest and East Coast are causing problems and hazards on roadways, and snow was forecast in some regions of the Midwest for Tuesday, news services reported.Temperatures in the upper Midwest have been 20 degrees below zero or colder, CBS reported on its Web site, and problems were not just with vehicles that would not start, but would not stop, it reported.In Minnesota, a 40-car pileup Tuesday temporarily closed Interstate 35 near Minneapolis, ABC affiliate KSTP reported on its Web site. Almost 300 cars were damaged in accidents in the area's morning rush hour, the station reported, citing police reports.Ionia County, Mich.’s 29 county-owned diesel-fueled trucks were using biodiesel blends made up of conventional 10% or 20% soybean oil, the Grand Rapids Press reported. To combat a risk of the biodiesel “jelling,” the county has stored its fleet indoors in cold weather, the paper reported on its Web site.AAA Michigan said it had 10,000 service calls over the weekend, a recent record, CBS reported. AAA advised motorists to keep fuel tanks at least half full to avoid freezing.In New England, cold air was causing problems in Boston’s “Big Dig” tunnel system, Boston’s NewsCenter 5 reported on its Web site. Icicles, some as long as two feet, were hanging from overheads, the Web site said. Crews were chipping them away, only to have them quickly form again, it reported.The New York Thruway was shut down in both directions for 38 miles in western New York from Lackawanna to Dunkirk Sunday because visibility was close to zero and trucks were jackknifing, CBS reported on its Web site. It reopened later in the day.The Midwest will see snow Tuesday in the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio River Valleys, the Weather Channel reported on its Web site, with the heaviest snows expected along the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Huntington, W.Va.Snow advisories were posted for portions of North Dakota, eastern Iowa, central Illinois, central Indiana, southwestern Ohio, southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, the Weather Channel said.