This post was originally published on this site

Chicago is forecast to reach an actual temperature of minus 26 degrees Wednesday night — just one degree away from the city’s all-time coldest temperature, which was set in 1994.

And soon, freezing temperatures will take over the Northeast.

The coldest wind chill (what it feels like outside) in the U.S. Wednesday morning was near Ponsford, Minnesota, which clocked in at a bone-chilling minus 66 degrees.

The temperature in Minneapolis plunged to minus 28 — the lowest since 1996. The city recorded a wind chill of minus 55.

Chicago reached a temperature of minus 23 — the lowest there since 1994. Chicago saw a minus 52 degree wind chill.

As the cold takes over and residents are urged to stay inside to avoid dangers including frostbite, the U.S. Postal Service has suspended delivery for Minnesota, western Wisconsin, western Illinois and Iowa.

Over 1,700 flights have been canceled at Chicago’s airports for the day, and Amtrak suspended all Wednesday trains to and from Chicago.

Classes are even canceled at colleges, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Wisconsin – Madison and the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

In Libertyvile, Illinois, a man was killed by a snowplow, local police said.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a 55-year-old man was “cold and frozen” when he was found dead in a garage near a snow shovel Tuesday, a medical examiner’s office official said.

Making this cold blast worse is that it’s lasting so long. Much of the Midwest won’t see temperatures above zero for well over 24 hours.

By mid-day Wednesday, wind chills had only warmed up to minus 39 in Minneapolis, minus 44 in Chicago and minus 29 in Detroit.

Thursday morning wind chills are forecast to clock in at minus 44 in Minneapolis, minus 43 degrees in Chicago and minus 35 in Detroit.

The extreme freeze comes as whiteout conditions targeted the Dakotas to western New York state.

Blizzard warnings are in effect in upstate New York and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan due to high winds and heavy lake effect snow.

Several feet of snowfall is possible in parts of upstate New York where the heaviest lake effect band sets up.

Snow squalls — sudden bands of snow combined with strong winds — were reported in parts of central Pennsylvania and New York Wednesday.

Snow squalls create dangerous whiteout conditions, which feel similar to a blizzard but do not last as long.

The cold air will next drift East.

Thursday morning wind chills are forecast to reach minus 2 degrees in Washington, D.C., minus 16 in New York City and minus 18 in Boston.

The cold will even extend to the South. Wind chills are forecast to reach 20 degrees in Atlanta, where fans are gearing up for this weekend’s Super Bowl.

For the hard-hit Midwest, relief will return by the weekend, when temperatures in Minneapolis and Chicago will climb back up to the 40s.

Super Bowl fans are also in luck: Atlanta is forecast to be in the 60s for the big game. </s> A historic and deadly polar vortex gripped a wide swath of the nation Wednesday, with temperatures plunging far below zero and wind chill numbers as extraordinary as they were dangerous.

It was cold in Delaware, too, though the First State avoided the modest snow that was predicted for Tuesday night. Instead, the state was hit by snow squalls Wednesday afternoon.

Temperatures topped out around 30 degrees in New Castle County and the mid-30s downstate. They were expected to plummet overnight, reaching single digits by daybreak Thursday, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Alex Staarmann.

Wind chills of minus 10 are possible Thursday morning, as are statewide high temperatures of 20 degrees.

Here's what the rest of the nation saw.

Chicago's temperature tumbled to 21 degrees below zero, a record for the date and closing in on the city's all-time record of minus 27 set in 1985. The wind chill dipped to an even more startling 51 degrees below zero.

It feels like 51 below zero in Chicago: Polar vortex strikes Midwest

The National Weather Service said the temperature reached minus 28 degrees in Minneapolis, poised to break a record dating back more than 100 years. The wind chill was minus 49.

Wind chill temperatures in dozens of towns across Minnesota and North Dakota plummeted to 60 degrees below zero or less, the National Weather Service said. The early leader was Ely, Minnesota, with a very cool minus 70 degrees.

Officials in Minnesota pulled snowplows off the roads in 11 southeastern counties, citing mechanical problems caused by the extreme cold.

"One of the coldest arctic air mass intrusions in recent memory is surging south into the Upper Midwest before spreading across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country," the National Weather Service said, warning of "life-threatening wind chills, likely leading to widespread record lows and low maximum temperatures."

At least six deaths were linked to the weather system, including a man struck and killed by a snow plow in the Chicago area, a young couple whose SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and in Milwaukee, and a man found frozen to death in a garage.

In Michigan, the body of a Detroit man was found in front of a neighbor's home, and in suburban Ecorse, another man was found outside without a hat or gloves. Temperatures fell to 27 below in Detroit, minus 32 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Thousands of flights into and out of airports in the region were delayed or canceled, including more than 1,000 flights at Chicago airports alone.

United Airlines spokesman Charlie Hobart says "everything tends to slow down" during severely cold weather, including manpower, fueling and equipment. The airline had brought in extra workers to help and was also providing heated tents for employees.

Amtrak pulled the plug in Chicago, announcing the "extreme weather conditions and an abundance of caution" led the service to cancel all trains to and from the city on Wednesday.

Short-distance services are also canceled on Thursday, Amtrak said.

Light rail was also a mess, with some suburban lines shutting down Wednesday. The Chicago Transit Authority, which shuttles about 1.6 million riders on a typical weekday, said it was experiencing significant delays.

Even the Postal Service took notice, announcing that due to concerns for the safety of its employees, mail wouldn't be delivered Wednesday in parts of at least 10 states.

What is the polar vortex blamed for cold weather, freezing temperatures and cold?

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order closing all non-essential state offices Wednesday, when the wind chill was forecast to be as low as minus-55 degrees.

Scores of schools, courthouses and businesses were closed across the Midwest.

In Delaware, school administrators monitored the weather closely. Two schools — Odyssey Charter and Providence Creek Academy — dismissed students early.

As in Delaware, several states opened emergency shelters and warming shelters for the homeless and displaced.

Susan Kent, executive director of Love Inc. of Mid Delmarva, said they were trying to get as many people to spend the night inside as possible.

"Every year, there’s one or two fatalities," Kent said. "It really is a matter of life or death."

How to save a life: What to do if you see someone out in the cold this week

More than 30,000 homes and businesses were without power in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio – a life-threatening condition in the brutal cold.

In Chicago, officials added 500 shelter beds and tapped more than 100 religious leaders to make calls and check on senior citizens. Five Chicago Transit Authority buses were dispatched to give homeless people a place to warm up who might not want to go to a shelter.

“Every one of us has a role to check on somebody who is maybe a neighbor on the block who is elderly, infirm or needs extra help,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.

The weather was headed east. New York's forecast high for Thursday was 16 degrees, with a wind chill of minus 15.

The city Housing Authority activated its Situation Room, with heating response teams prepped to respond to heat and hot water emergencies.

Philadelphia enacted "Cold Blue," including 24-hour outreach to find people who are homeless and transport them to safe indoor spaces

People enduring the frigid temperatures have been using hashtags like #Chiberia — a combination of Chicago and Siberia — to share what it's like under such harsh conditions.

They also made videos of cans of soda and beer exploding, frost developing on doorknobs from the inside, officials setting fire to train tracks to keep them from freezing and more.

The USA Today Network and the Associated Press contributed reporting. Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies. </s> Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day as the mercury dipped to record lows in several states.

CHICAGO: Brutally cold temperatures gripped the US Midwest on Thursday (Jan 31), freezing water mains, causing power outages, canceling flights and straining natural gas supplies.

Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day as the mercury dipped to record lows in several states.

Ten deaths have been attributed to the sub-zero weather and a weekend snowstorm that deluged the same region. Many of the cold-related fatalities were in Michigan, where the governor said the death toll was still being confirmed.

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travelers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.

Natural gas supplies were under threat in Michigan and Minnesota. Authorities asked residents to reduce heat consumption wherever possible and decreased heating in government buildings.

Water mains froze in Detroit, Chicago and parts of Canada and power outages were reported in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Nearly 1,700 flights had been canceled in Chicago by Thursday afternoon. Airport crews worked in 15-minute increments on the tarmac to avoid frostbite.

Amtrak planned to begin restoring service to some trains after canceling all lines Wednesday in and out of Chicago.

The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift on Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.

"We are not done yet. We've got another 24 hours where the weather will be at dangerous levels," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a news conference.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said temperatures would slowly moderate, but the agency forecast wind chills Thursday would remain between -20 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 to -46 Celsius) over parts of the Upper Midwest.

The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago's downtown.

MORE SNOW TO COME

The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing "frost quakes."

Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.

The NWS said a low temperature of -21F (-29C) was recorded in Chicago on Thursday morning. The record low of -27F (-33C) was on Jan 20, 1985.

It said a historic low temperature for Illinois of -38F (-39C) had been reported in the town of Mt Carroll and was being reviewed before being declared a state record.

Record low temperatures were also reported in some towns in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Officials in multiple states warned that the extreme weather should be taken seriously, with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite setting in within minutes of exposure.

There were also concerns over another round of snow late Thursday, after a weekend snowstorm inundated the areas now frozen by Arctic cold.

"We've gone from snow to freezing temperatures, wind chill," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference. "With more snow on the way, we're not out of the woods yet."

Hundreds of warming centers were opened for vulnerable residents such as seniors, and shelter capacities increased for the homeless.

Among the 10 reported dead this week was an 18-year-old University of Iowa student.

He was found unresponsive behind a campus building Wednesday morning, when wind chill temperatures in Iowa City were -51F (-46C), according to local TV station KCCI.

While officials warned residents to remain on guard as long as the sub-zero weather persisted, authorities in Michigan and Minnesota were also asking them to turn down their thermostats to conserve natural gas.

Supplies were strained due to high demand from home heaters and from a fire at a natural gas compressor station in Michigan, officials said.

"This is not over until noon tomorrow. And we are asking people to continue to keep the thermostat down," Michigan Governor Whitmer said.

General Motors and Fiat Chrysler suspended or curtailed operations at more than a dozen facilities in Michigan to conserve natural gas, the companies said.

City crews braved sub-zero weather to repair a number of frozen water main breaks that plagued Motor City neighbourhoods.

Chicago reported 22 broken water mains, 16 of which had already been repaired.

America's northern neighbour Canada was also contending with extreme cold, with frozen water pipes, snarled travel on a major waterway, and temperatures as low as -40F (-40C) on Wednesday. </s> BISMARCK, N.D. -- A deadly arctic deep freeze enveloped the Midwest with record-breaking temperatures on Wednesday, triggering widespread closures of schools and businesses, and the cancelling of more than 1,500 flights from Chicago's airports. The cold even prompted the U.S. Postal Service to suspend mail delivery to a wide swath of the region.

Many normal activities shut down and residents huddled inside as the National Weather Service forecast plunging temperatures from one of the coldest air masses in years. The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to drop much farther south than normal.

In Chicago, temperatures were still dropping after plunging early Wednesday to minus 19 degrees (negative 28 Celsius), breaking the day's previous record low set in 1966. Snowplows were idled overnight in southwestern Minnesota, where temperatures dropped to negative 29 degrees (negative 34 Celsius). And the temperature in Fargo, North Dakota, was 31 degrees below zero (negative 35 Celsius).

In addition to the flight cancellations in Chicago at O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, the extreme cold prompted Amtrak to cancel all trains into and out of Chicago.

Officials throughout the region were focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold , including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing. Some buses were turned into mobile warming shelters to help the homeless in Chicago.

Governors in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan declared emergencies as the worst of the cold threatened on Wednesday. In Chicago, major attractions closed because of the bitter cold, including the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Art Institute and the Field Museum.

“These (conditions) are actually a public health risk and you need to treat it appropriately,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday. “They are life-threatening conditions and temperatures.”

A wind chill of minus 25 (negative 32 degrees Celsius) can freeze skin within 15 minutes, according to the National Weather Service.

In Michigan, homeless shelters in Lansing were becoming “overloaded,” Mayor Andy Schor said. They also were filling up in Detroit.

“People don't want to be out there right now,” said Brennan Ellis, 53, who is staying at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.

Detroit's outlook was for Wednesday overnight lows around minus 12 (negative 24 degrees Celsius), with wind chills dropping to minus 35 (negative 37 degrees Celsius).

At least four deaths were linked to the weather system Tuesday, including a man struck and killed by a snow plow in the Chicago area, a young couple whose SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and a Milwaukee man found frozen to death in a garage.

A popular saying goes: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat ...” will stop the mail from being delivered. But extreme cold will on Wednesday.

The U.S. Postal Service said it would suspend mail delivery on Wednesday in parts or all of several Midwest states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Hawaii native Charles Henry, 54, was staying at a shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota, and said he was grateful to have a place to stay out of the cold.

“That wind chill out there is not even a joke,” he said. “I feel sorry for anybody that has to stay outside.”

Chicago was turning five buses into makeshift warming centres moving around the city, some with nurses aboard, to encourage the homeless to come in from the cold.

“We're bringing the warming shelters to them, so they can stay near all of their stuff and still warm up,” said Cristina Villarreal, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Family and Support Services.

Shelters, churches and city departments in Detroit worked together to help get vulnerable people out of the cold, offering the message to those who refused help that “you're going to freeze or lose a limb,” said Terra DeFoe, a senior adviser to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Hundreds of public schools and several large universities from North Dakota to Pennsylvania cancelled classes Tuesday or planned to do so Wednesday.

American Indian tribes in the Upper Midwest were doing what they could to help members in need with heating supplies. The extreme cold was “a scary situation,” because much of the housing is of poor quality, said Chris Fairbanks, energy assistance program manager for the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

The cold weather was even affecting beer deliveries, with a pair of western Wisconsin distributors saying they would delay or suspend shipments for fear that beer would freeze in their trucks.

But it wasn't stopping one of America's most formidable endurance tests, however - the three-day Arrowhead 135 was going on as scheduled in northeastern Minnesota. Competitors can cover the race route by bicycle, cross-country skis or just running.

The cold is attributed to a sudden warming far above the North Pole. A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

Associated Press reporters Caryn Rousseau and Don Babwin in Chicago; Corey Williams, David Runk and Mike Householder in Detroit; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis contributed to this report. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein also contributed. </s> Shelter employees across the Midwest worked fervently Tuesday to find safe harbor for thousands of homeless people with no place to go, as officials warn the extreme cold set to seep into the region overnight could prove deadly for anyone left on the street.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday "one of the coldest arctic air intrusions in recent memory" is expected to blast the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes from Tuesday through Thursday, likely leading to widespread record lows and low maximum temperatures.

"We actually might see cold temperatures that we have never seen before or felt before across the Northern Plains," Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean said on "FOX & friends." "This is potentially deadly weather. You cannot be outside in temperatures like that. Your skin will freeze in minutes."

Temperatures on Tuesday will enter subzero territory, but the worst is expected to come Wednesday. That's when wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees, while temperatures in Minnesota may plunge to minus 30 degrees with a wind chill of negative 60.

WINTER STORM SLAMMING MIDWEST TO BRING SNOW TO SOUTH, NORTHEAST AHEAD OF POLAR VORTEX BLAST

The governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have declared states of emergency ahead of the dangerously cold weather.

The expected onslaught of frigid conditions have set agencies and nonprofit groups in Chicago scrambling to get the area's homeless population off the streets before the bitter temperatures descend on the city.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday the city plans to park CTA buses near homeless populations over the next few nights and expand the number of warming shelters.

"We have opened two additional 24-hour warming centers, our Garfield Community Service Center at 10 South Kedzie, and our King Community Center at 4341 South Cottage will each be open 24 hours a day,” Commissioner of Family and Support Services Liza Morrison-Butler said at a news conference.

The Salvation Army was out in neighborhoods Monday handing out hot soup and warm clothes to people on the city's West Side. Major Nancy Powers with the Salvation Army told FOX32 the concern is with the small percentage of the homeless population that refuse to come in from the cold.

"Just trying to get them not to freeze to death,” she said. “In this weather, believe it or not, at 20 degrees below zero, there are some folks who are still going to stay put."

AT WHAT TEMPERATURE CAN YOU GET FROSTBITE? SIGNS, SYMPTOMS AND EVERYTHING ELSE TO KNOW

Large crowds were already beginning to gather at one warming center on Monday as volunteers handed out supplies.

"I'm gonna survive by staying at the warming center and drinking hot cocoa,” one woman told FOX32.

In Minneapolis, the Salvation Army said Monday it was opening shelters for 24 hours to help people escape from the cold.

“People are like, ‘I enjoy the weather like this, I don’t have to go out,’ but now what happens to people that are out, they have to come in somewhere and the Salvation Army is willing to open our doors,” said Captain Bersabe Vera of the Salvation Army told FOX9.

Another organization, Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities, said it was preparing additional space to hold more people during the bitter blast of cold. The group said more beds were being added for the next three days at a facility in St. Paul.

Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage said Monday that ambulance crews were handling all outside response incidents as being potentially life-threatening.

The extreme cold is also leading to school cancellations and travel disruptions throughout the region as officials prepare for its impact.

Minneapolis Public Schools officials have canceled classes through Wednesday, when the region is expected to experience frigid temperatures not felt for a quarter century. Hundreds of Michigan schools were closed Tuesday, including in Detroit, while Chicago Public Schools canceled Wednesday classes because of the anticipated cold snap.

The Chicago Zoological Society said it was closing the Brookfield Zoo on Wednesday and Thursday — marking only the fourth time the zoo has closed during its 85-year history — to ensure the safety of its employees and animals.

WHAT IS A POLAR VORTEX? A LOOK AT WHAT COULD BE IN THE FORECAST THIS WINTER

At O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, the high temperature on Wednesday is expected to be negative 14 degrees, which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994. Hundreds of flights have been canceled at O'Hare and Chicago's Midway Airport on Tuesday due to lingering effects of the winter storm that hit the region on Monday, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

The cold will curtail Amtrak operations, with some scheduled trains between Chicago and St. Louis, Carbondale, Milwaukee and Detroit canceled due to the cold snap.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will be closed Wednesday, in addition to several universities.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Cold weather advisories are in effect across a broad swath of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> BISMARCK, N.D. — A deadly arctic deep freeze enveloped the Midwest with record-breaking temperatures on Wednesday, triggering widespread closures of schools and businesses, and the canceling of more than 1,500 flights from Chicago’s airports. The cold even prompted the U.S. Postal Service to suspend mail delivery to a wide swath of the region.

Many normal activities shut down and residents huddled inside as the National Weather Service forecast plunging temperatures from one of the coldest air masses in years. The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to plunge much further south than normal.

In Chicago, temperatures were still dropping after plunging early Wednesday to minus 19 degrees (negative 28 Celsius), breaking the day’s previous record low set in 1966. Snowplows were idled overnight in southwestern Minnesota, where temperatures dropped to negative 29 degrees (negative 34 Celsius). And the temperature in Fargo, North Dakota, was 31 degrees below zero (negative 35 Celsius).

In addition to the flight cancelations in Chicago at O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, the extreme cold prompted Amtrak to cancel all trains into and out of Chicago.

Officials throughout the region were focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold , including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing. Some buses were turned into mobile warming shelters to help the homeless in Chicago.

Governors in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan declared emergencies as the worst of the cold threatened on Wednesday. In Chicago, major attractions closed because of the bitter cold, including the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Art Institute and the Field Museum.

“These (conditions) are actually a public health risk and you need to treat it appropriately,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday. “They are life-threatening conditions and temperatures.”

A wind chill of minus 25 (negative 32 degrees Celsius) can freeze skin within 15 minutes, according to the National Weather Service.

In Michigan, homeless shelters in Lansing were becoming “overloaded,” Mayor Andy Schor said. They also were filling up in Detroit.

“People don’t want to be out there right now,” said Brennan Ellis, 53, who is staying at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.

Detroit’s outlook was for Wednesday overnight lows around minus 12 (negative 24 degrees Celsius), with wind chills dropping to minus 35 (negative 37 degrees Celsius).

At least four deaths were linked to the weather system Tuesday, including a man struck and killed by a snow plow in the Chicago area, a young couple whose SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and a Milwaukee man found frozen to death in a garage.

A popular saying goes: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat …” will stop the mail from being delivered. But extreme cold will on Wednesday.

The U.S. Postal Service said it would suspend mail delivery on Wednesday in parts or all of several Midwest states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Hawaii native Charles Henry, 54, was staying at a shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota, and said he was grateful to have a place to stay out of the cold.

“That wind chill out there is not even a joke,” he said. “I feel sorry for anybody that has to stay outside.”

Chicago was turning five buses into makeshift warming centers moving around the city, some with nurses aboard, to encourage the homeless to come in from the cold.

“We’re bringing the warming shelters to them, so they can stay near all of their stuff and still warm up,” said Cristina Villarreal, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.

Shelters, churches and city departments in Detroit worked together to help get vulnerable people out of the cold, offering the message to those who refused help that “you’re going to freeze or lose a limb,” said Terra DeFoe, a senior adviser to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Hundreds of public schools and several large universities from North Dakota to Pennsylvania canceled classes Tuesday or planned to do so Wednesday.

American Indian tribes in the Upper Midwest were doing what they could to help members in need with heating supplies. The extreme cold was “a scary situation,” because much of the housing is of poor quality, said Chris Fairbanks, energy assistance program manager for the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

The cold weather was even affecting beer deliveries, with a pair of western Wisconsin distributors saying they would delay or suspend shipments for fear that beer would freeze in their trucks.

But it wasn’t stopping one of America’s most formidable endurance tests, however — the three-day Arrowhead 135 was going on as scheduled in northeastern Minnesota. Competitors can cover the race route by bicycle, cross-country skis or just running.

The cold is attributed to a sudden warming far above the North Pole. A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

Associated Press reporters Caryn Rousseau and Don Babwin in Chicago; Corey Williams, David Runk and Mike Householder in Detroit; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis contributed to this report. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein also contributed. </s> BISMARCK, N.D. — A deadly arctic deep freeze enveloped the Midwest with record-breaking temperatures on Wednesday, triggering widespread closures of schools and businesses, and the canceling of more than 1,500 flights from Chicago's airports. The cold even prompted the U.S. Postal Service to suspend mail delivery to a wide swath of the region.

Many normal activities shut down and residents huddled inside as the National Weather Service forecast plunging temperatures from one of the coldest air masses in years. The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to drop much farther south than normal.

In Chicago, temperatures were still dropping after plunging early Wednesday to minus 19 degrees, breaking the day's previous record low set in 1966. Snowplows were idled overnight in southwestern Minnesota, where temperatures dropped to negative 29 degrees. And the temperature in Fargo, North Dakota, was 31 degrees below zero.

In addition to the flight cancelations in Chicago at O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, the extreme cold prompted Amtrak to cancel all trains into and out of Chicago.

Officials throughout the region were focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold , including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing. Some buses were turned into mobile warming shelters to help the homeless in Chicago.

Governors in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan declared emergencies as the worst of the cold threatened on Wednesday. In Chicago, major attractions closed because of the bitter cold, including the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Art Institute and the Field Museum.

"These (conditions) are actually a public health risk and you need to treat it appropriately," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday. "They are life-threatening conditions and temperatures."

A wind chill of minus 25 can freeze skin within 15 minutes, according to the National Weather Service.

In Michigan, homeless shelters in Lansing were becoming "overloaded," Mayor Andy Schor said. They also were filling up in Detroit.

"People don't want to be out there right now," said Brennan Ellis, 53, who is staying at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.

Detroit's outlook was for Wednesday overnight lows around minus 12, with wind chills dropping to minus 35.

At least four deaths were linked to the weather system Tuesday, including a man struck and killed by a snow plow in the Chicago area, a young couple whose SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and a Milwaukee man found frozen to death in a garage.

A popular saying goes: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat …" will stop the mail from being delivered. But extreme cold will on Wednesday.

The U.S. Postal Service said it would suspend mail delivery on Wednesday in parts or all of several Midwest states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Hawaii native Charles Henry, 54, was staying at a shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota, and said he was grateful to have a place to stay out of the cold.

"That wind chill out there is not even a joke," he said. "I feel sorry for anybody that has to stay outside."

Chicago was turning five buses into makeshift warming centers moving around the city, some with nurses aboard, to encourage the homeless to come in from the cold.

"We're bringing the warming shelters to them, so they can stay near all of their stuff and still warm up," said Cristina Villarreal, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Family and Support Services.

Shelters, churches and city departments in Detroit worked together to help get vulnerable people out of the cold, offering the message to those who refused help that "you're going to freeze or lose a limb," said Terra DeFoe, a senior adviser to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Hundreds of public schools and several large universities from North Dakota to Pennsylvania canceled classes Tuesday or planned to do so Wednesday.

American Indian tribes in the Upper Midwest were doing what they could to help members in need with heating supplies. The extreme cold was "a scary situation," because much of the housing is of poor quality, said Chris Fairbanks, energy assistance program manager for the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

The cold weather was even affecting beer deliveries, with a pair of western Wisconsin distributors saying they would delay or suspend shipments for fear that beer would freeze in their trucks.

But it wasn't stopping one of America's most formidable endurance tests, however — the three-day Arrowhead 135 was going on as scheduled in northeastern Minnesota. Competitors can cover the race route by bicycle, cross-country skis or just running.

The cold is attributed to a sudden warming far above the North Pole. A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week. </s> MILWAUKEE (AP) — Extremely cold, record-breaking temperatures are settling across parts of the Midwest after a powerful snowstorm pounded the region overnight Monday, and forecasters are describing the subzero weather on the way as potentially life-threatening.

Minneapolis Public Schools announced there would be no classes through Wednesday, when the region will experience frigidly low temperatures not seen in a quarter century.

"You're talking about frostbite and hypothermia issues very quickly, like in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds," said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.

The cold also prompted officials to close some schools in eastern Iowa, while Chicago Public Schools officials said they were monitoring the weather ahead of Wednesday's cold snap. The Chicago Zoological Society, meanwhile, said it's closing the Brookfield Zoo on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure the safety of employees and animals. It's only the fourth time the zoo has closed during its 85-year history.

Subzero temperatures will begin Tuesday but Wednesday is expected to be the worst. Wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees (negative 48 degrees Celsius), which the National Weather Service called "possibly life threatening." Minnesota temperatures could hit minus 30 degrees (negative 34 degrees Celsius) with a wind chill of negative 60 (negative 51 degrees Celsius). The potentially record-breaking low temperature forecast in Milwaukee is negative 28 degrees (negative 33 degrees Celsius), with a wind chill as low as negative 50 (negative 45 degrees Celsius). The current record of minus 26 degrees (negative 32 degrees Celsius) was set in 1996.

"That's 40 degrees below normal," Hurley said.

The high temperature forecast at O'Hare on Wednesday is negative 14 degrees (negative 25 degrees Celsius), which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.

Homeless shelters were preparing for the onslaught of cold. The Milwaukee Rescue Mission's call volume was "unusually high," but there should still be enough beds for those who need them, said the mission's president, Pat Vanderburgh. Charitable groups that operate warming places and shelters in Minneapolis were expanding hours and capacity as the cold moved into the city where 1,500 people typically are sheltered on a given night.

"The charitable organizations responsible for operating shelters are adding emergency capacity as they do whenever dangerous extreme temperature events occur," said Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage. He said ambulance crews in the city were handling all outside response incidents as being potentially life-threatening.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged residents to check on their neighbors and take safety precautions. He said city agencies are making sure homeless people are in shelters or offered space in warming buses.

Cold weather advisories are in effect across a broad swath of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

The unusually frigid weather is attributed to a sudden warming way above the North Pole. A sudden blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the North Pole rapidly rise about 125 degrees (70 degrees Celsius). That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, according to Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial firm outside Boston. One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

On Monday, snowplow drivers had trouble keeping up with the snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where some areas got as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters). Chicago-area commuters woke up to heavy snowfall, with more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) already on the ground. In Michigan, nonessential government offices were closed, including the Capitol.

Rare snowfall was also forecast for some southern states . Forecasters warned of up to 3 inches (7 centimeters) of snow in central Mississippi and Alabama by Tuesday morning and said temperatures will plummet as arctic cold blasts southward. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency ahead of the storm.

Associated Press reporters Caryn Rousseau in Chicago, Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and David Runk in Detroit contributed to this report. </s> Bitter Arctic air is blasting from the polar vortex into the US and bringing brutally cold temperatures. The polar vortex is a stream of cold air that spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole, but the current has been disrupted and is now pushing south into the United States. The result has been bitterly freezing temperatures, feet of snow, as lakes are frozen over and schools are shut.

Snow has affected the midwestern states, but is now pushing into northeastern US. Governors in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan declared emergencies as temperatures plunged as low as -32C in North Dakota, with wind chills as low as -52C in Minnesota on Tuesday. The National Weather Service said a wind chill of -32C can freeze skin within 15 minutes. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said: “Keeping Michiganders safe during this stretch of dangerously cold temperatures is our priority.

“Such widespread, extreme conditions have not occurred in Michigan for many years and it is imperative that we are proactive with record-low temperatures being predicted by the National Weather Service.” Wednesday could be the coldest day ever recorded in Chicago with a forecast of -14F (-26C), but it’s possible the Windy City could break its all-time coldest temperatures of -27C. Officials warned Chicago residents to expect an unusually deep and dangerous freeze. Even the city’s supply of its signature deep-dish pizza was affected: one chain announced it would stop taking delivery orders at 8pm on Tuesday.

The wind chill will make temperatures feel as low as -50F (-46C) through Thursday, the National Weather Service said. What is the coldest temperature in the US today? Temperatures could reach lows of -30F to -40F (-34C to -40C) in parts of the Northern Plains and Great Lakes on Wednesday, the NWS said. Ricky Castro, a National Weather Service meteorologist, in Romeoville, Illinois: “This could possibly be history-making.” As much as two feet (60cm) of snow was forecast in Wisconsin, and six inches (15cm) in Illinois.
Major midwestern cities, including Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee, are under severe wind chill advisories with wind chills approaching −55 °F (−48 °C) at night. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declare states of emergency due to the record low windchill temperatures.