Record breaking snowfall and frigid temperatures strike the western U.S.

Severe weather sweeping parts of the U.S. brought frigid temperatures to the Pacific Northwest, heavy snow to mountains in Northern California and Nevada and unseasonable warmth to Texas and the Southeast on Monday.

Emergency warming shelters were opened throughout Oregon and western Washington as temperatures plunged into the teens and forecasters said an arctic blast would last for several days. Sunday's snow showers blew into the Pacific Northwest from the Gulf of Alaska, dumping up to six inches across the Seattle area.

The National Weather Service said Seattle's low Sunday was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a mark set in 1948. Bellingham was nine degrees Fahrenheit, three degrees colder than the previous record set in 1971.