Arctic air grips much of US in cold snap – in pictures

Bundled up against the extreme cold, Julie Caruso of Akron, Ohio, waits in a long line for a tour of the White House in Washington on Tuesday Photograph: Kevin LaMarque/Reuters

Steam forms amidst cars driving in subzero temperatures on Tuesday in Minneapolis Photograph: David Joles/AP

Firefighters work to extinguish a massive blaze at a vacant warehouse in Chicago on Wednesday. Fire officials said a third of all Chicago firefighters were on the scene at one point or another trying to put out the flames Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Ice covers the Chicago warehouse. Fire department officials said it was the biggest fire the department has had to battle in years Photograph: John Gress/Reuters

The frozen ice covered pair of gloves belonging to a Chicago firefighter stand frozen on a railing behind him late Tuesday night Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

A truck is encased in ice after the warehouse fire in Chicago Photograph: John Gress/Reuters

In Boston, a commuter man grimaces as he adjusts his hood while walking in temperatures that hovered around 5F (-15C) Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Icicles hang from pipes inside the Times Square subway station in New York on Wednesday, when commuters faced temperatures in the teens (-9C) on their way to work Photograph: Donald King/AP

A man walks his dog across the frozen Lake Harriet near Minneapolis Photograph: ERIC MILLER/Reuters

A woman walks down a street on one of the coldest days of the year in New York City on Wednesday. Despite the cold, January will go down as one of the warmest on record in the city Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A woman bundles up against the cold on 7th avenue in New York on Wednesday Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters