Deep Freeze: San Francisco kicked off yesterday in 5 degree weather on a dead-brown field at Green Bay’s Lambeau field. The temperature dropped throughout the game as it did across the Midwest while the cold creeps east. This morning it’s 30 below in Phillips, Wisc., 18 below in Ironwood, Mich., and 16 below in Chicago. Further east, its 55 in New York, but just wait.

 Air travellers continue in the first circle of hell. Over 3,200 flights have been cancelled already today … yesterday it was 3,700. Some passengers have been stuck in air terminals for days.

 It’s so cold, the earth is groaning. Residents of Toronto have reported rumbles and booms in the night, which some assumed were earthquakes. But they are actually the phenomenon known as cryoseism or “frost quakes”. When it’s cold enough, groundwater freezes then cracks and heaves, making a booming sound.

 By the way, Green Bay lost by three points on its own frozen turf.

Nation: The White House and congressional Democrats are pushing for a renewal of long-term unemployment benefits. Some Republican leaders are with them. An estimated 1.3 million Americans were cut off nine days ago when emergency benefits expired. The supplement added 47 weeks to the standard six-months.

>A private jet crashed and burned on landing at the Aspen, Colo. Airport yesterday. The pilot was killed and two people injured, one of them seriously. The actor Kevin Nealon posted on Twitter, “Horrible plane crash here at Aspen airport. Exploded into flames as it was landing.” The winter playground for the rich and famous is a difficult place to fly in and out of, and they’ve had some horrific crashes, but no cause was given for this one.  

>One man died and another was seriously injured yesterday as flames roared out of a 20^th floor apartment over West 43d St in New York. One resident floors above calmly Tweeted his experience as he, his wife, and two-year old were trapped in their apartment. “Stuck on building on 26^t floor. Building on fire,” he wrote. They got out safely. The fire started at 11 am and took about 100 firefighters to put it out.

World: Secy. of State John Kerry said the US will not be sending troops to Iraq to fight al Qaeda forces that have taken Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad. “This is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis,” Kerry told reporters on a trip to Israel. “We will help them in their fight, but this fight, in the end, they will have to win.”

Obit Page: Former San Diego baseball announcer Jerry Coleman has died at 89. Coleman spent 40 years announcing for the Padres, but distinquished himself by leaving his own professional ball career twice to fly as a Marine pilot in WWII, and Korea.

Sardine Crash. The population of West Coast sardines has dropped 72% since a peak in 2006, the LA Times reports. Fisherman are struggling with catch limits while scarcity endangers mammals and sea birds that feed on sardines. The crash may be caused by a long natural cycle chilling the ocean, but scientists are not certain. West Coast sardines nearly went extinct in the 1950s, resulting in an 18-year fishing moratorium.

Quit: Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick, is quitting the race for senator from Wyoming saying, “Serious health issues have recently arisen in our family.” She didn’t say who or what.

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