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At least eight people have died in one of the worst colds of decades in the US Midwest.
A student from Iowa found dead outside of a university building is among the victims.
Hospitals treat patients reporting frostbite while life from one country to the other stops.
Ninety million people – one-third of the United States – experienced temperatures below -17 ° C (0 ° F). Some 250 million Americans in total have experienced the conditions of the "polar vortex".
However, southern states such as Florida have escaped the brutal cold.
How did the dead happen?
- University of Iowa student Gerald Belz, 18, was found unconscious behind a campus building before dawn on Wednesday and died later in hospital. The officials said the weather was a factor. His father told the local KCRG news channel that Gerald was a "mom's boy with a hard outside".
- A 70-year-old man from Detroit, Michigan, was found dead in front of a neighbor's home on Wednesday.
- Another 70-year-old Michigan man was found dead in his neighborhood. Officials said that he was "badly dressed for the weather" and was probably disoriented
- On Tuesday, Charley Lampley, 55, died of cold in a garage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after "being apparently collapsed after shoveling snow," according to a medical examiner.
- An 82-year-old man from Beijing, Illinois, died of hypothermia after apparently falling in front of his home on Tuesday.
- A 75-year-old man was killed by a snow plow near Chicago on Monday. The driver has since been put on paid leave while waiting for an investigation, according to WGN9 News
- In northeastern Indiana, a young couple died as a result of a collision on icy roads.
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Getty Images
Snow and cold hit New York
What is the forecast?
Thursday, the third American city, Chicago, should reach its lowest record of 1985, -32 ° C (-25 ° F), according to meteorologists. The city has already exceeded the record of 31 January.
The official low temperature in Chicago this morning was -21 ° F. This breaks the previous January 31 record of -12 ° F (1985). In records dating back to the 1870s, it was only the fifteenth time that Chicago experienced a daily depression as cold or cold, yesterday was 14th.
– NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) January 31, 2019
End of @NWSChicago's post Twitter
The National Weather Service (NWS) reported that Rockford, Illinois, west of Chicago, broke its record -27 ° F (-32 ° C) record when temperatures plummeted Thursday morning. -34 ° C (-30 ° F).
The cities of Iowa have also broken records of temperature.
Cotton, Minnesota, however, was Thursday the coldest place in the United States, with a low of -48 ° C (-56 ° F) based on preliminary data.
On Thursday, the cold is heading east, bringing sub-zero temperatures to northeastern cities such as Boston.
Regions downstream of the Great Lakes should be buried by intense "snow lakes" until Thursday evening.
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NOAA / BBC
The region near Buffalo, New York, is expected to experience the heaviest snowfall. Snow could fall at speeds of 3 inches to 5 inches (7 cm to 12 cm) per hour.
The freezing cold weather should loosen on Friday.
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Taking into account the wind chill, the Midwest and Great Lakes felt temperatures approaching -40 ° C (-40 ° F) and -53 ° C (-63 ° F), which is enough to cause frostbite in less than five minutes.
But by the end of the weekend, Chicago could experience temperatures of up to 10 ° C (50 ° F).
"It will take at least 60 degrees for Chicago," Reuters news agency David Hamrick, a National Weather Service forecaster, told Reuters.
The wind chill city
Analysis by Chris Buckler, BBC News, Chicago
In the icy streets of Chicago, the winters are harsh, but it was too cold, even for some people who live there.
Rush hour has not been here for two days in this usually busy city, as many have chosen to stay at home rather than brave such extreme things.
Those who went to work arrived crammed, layer by layer, with clothes. Everything that was exposed – like eyebrows and eyelashes – was covered in frost.
"They closed up several times," said a man about his tears.
The Windy City could be renamed Wind Chill City given the number of warnings this week.
Under several skyscrapers, there are still signs indicating the dangers of falling ice.
You might argue that a slight thaw started as cracks began to appear on what was a solid layer of ice covering the Chicago River.
But temperatures should remain below freezing until Saturday at the earliest.
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How does the cold wave affect daily life?
The Arctic climate could cost billions of dollars in the United States. In 2014, a similar freeze cost the country about $ 5 billion (£ 3.8 billion), CBS News reported.
In Minnesota, the natural gas company Xcel Energy has asked residents to reduce their home's thermostats to 17 ° C (63 ° F), to help them cope with the heating demand.
Michigan residents have received similar requests from their utility companies as vendors struggle to keep states warm.
We understand that the timing of our request is not ideal considering the cold temperatures of today. However, without further reductions, we risk not being able to provide natural gas to Michigan families and critical facilities – a scenario none of us would want to face.
– Consumers Energy (@ConsumersEnergy) January 31, 2019
End of @ConsumersEnergy's Twitter post
- In pictures: polar vortex strikes
- A guide to surviving a polar vortex
The Native American tribes of the Midwestern states help their members get warming during the cold weather because many live in substandard housing, the Associated Press reported.
Detroit has had more than two dozen frozen water pipes during this week. A spokesman for the city told the Associated Press that the pipes had been installed up to 1.8 m below the jelly line, but with such low temperatures, the ground is still frozen.
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The US Postal Service has suspended all mail deliveries for the second day in parts of six states.
More than 2,300 flights were canceled and another 3,500 were delayed due to the polar vortex.
As ice and snow continue to accumulate, roads have become increasingly dangerous in the northern United States. In Illinois, police said they helped more than 1,300 motorists and received 460 calls in eight hours – 10 times the norm.
A woman in the state was caught at 115 mph (185 km / h) on a snowy road with a speed limit of 35 km / h (56 km / h).
At least two people were seriously injured in a stack of 27 cars on icy roads in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
Twenty-one vehicles, including a truck, were involved in a pile up in Buffalo, New York, during a snowstorm Wednesday. Officials did not reveal the details of their injuries, reported WKBW News.
It was reported that the truck would not have been on the road at that time due to a weather-related ban.
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The Washington Post via Getty Images
One individual walks in State Street in Madison, Wisconsin
In Minnesota, prison visits have been canceled by the cold, according to the New York Times.
How hot is Chicago?
The city of Illinois has become a frozen ghost town after temperatures have dropped to -30 ° C (-22 ° F), colder than parts of the Antarctic.
A good Samaritan paid 70 homeless Chicagoans to stay in a hotel as temperatures dropped.
Salvation Army spokeswoman Jacqueline Rachev told the Washington Post, "This is a deadly situation for anyone, and we are delighted that someone can do it."
Most of the thousands of canceled flights this week came from Chicago's airports – O & # 39; Hare International is ranked among the 10 busiest airports in the world.
Amtrak also canceled all trains to Chicago Wednesday, affecting 55 trains, and announced that most would be canceled Thursday.
With the Midwest City being one of the hubs of the company, nationwide train services could be affected.
The thrill was still too much for Chicago's Disney on Ice, which canceled its performance on Wednesday.
More than 600 local schools have been closed, keeping 360,000 students at home.
Where is Canada?
Most of Canada was in some form of weather warning – extreme cold in the Prairies, Quebec and Ontario with heavy snowfall in Alberta and Nova Scotia.
In Toronto, where winters tend to be milder than in cities like Montreal and Ottawa, temperatures have dropped to -18 ° C. The icy roads and several transit delays have created an infernal ride for the city's residents. .
Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings in most areas of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, urging residents to limit their exposure to cold weather and keep their pets indoors.
Lawyers have expressed concern for homeless people living in cities affected by extreme temperatures.
In Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, temperatures were -40 ° C (-40 ° F), with wind chill factors that gave a -50 ° C (-58 ° F) feel.
"If you do not get it in December, you'll get it in January, February, or March." What are you expecting? It's Winterpeg, "Caroline Rodriguez told CBC.
In Calgary, Alberta, temperatures were relatively mild at -3 ° C (27 ° F), but they were expected to fall overnight and over the weekend.
In some rural areas of northern Alberta, it was expected that 15 inches of snow would fall.
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