The polar vortex in the US is expected to see records tumble as temperatures reach minus 40F - and a town in Michigan called Hell freezes over.
Chicago is expected to break the city’s record of minus 26F (minus 32C), set more than 30 years ago as the cold snap intensifies.
Some nearby isolated areas could see temperatures as low as minus 40F (minus 40C), that would break the Illinois record of minus 38C set in 1999.
It was minus 30F (minus 34C) Thursday morning in Cedar Rapids, according to the Associated Press, breaking the previous record of -21F (-29C) set on 31 January. The low of -28F (-33C) in Iowa City was 10 degrees colder than the previous record of -18F (-28C) set in 1996.
New lows for the date also were set in Dubuque and Waterloo.
UPS Chief Operating Officer Jim Barber said Thursday that most of the routes that won't receive deliveries are in rural areas. He says drivers delivering in cities have a chance to warm up while making deliveries to businesses.
UPS says it stopped deliveries to about 100 zip codes on Wednesday. The Post Office says there are 42,000 zip codes across the country.
Photos from across the country show the arctic conditions much of the US is facing as a polar vortex strikes the nation.
Below, the BBC shared photos from Buffalo, New York yesterday, where snowfall inundated the region.
Meanwhile, as many as 25m Americans throughout the country will see temperatures in their region dip to —28C (20F).
At one point on Thursday morning, the majority of mainland United States was below 0C (32F).
Many of the videos Chicagoans are uploading online show how residents are experimenting with record-low temperatures in the nation’s third-largest city.
Some are blowing bubbles that immediately freeze into ice, while others are capturing sweeping panoramics of the city’s frozen views.
Farmers from North Dakota to Iowa buckled down for some of the coldest weather in a generation on Wednesday, throwing extra rations to pigs or building igloos for chickens in the teeth of sub-zero temperatures and bone-chilling winds.
Cargill Inc closed all its grain plants in the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday because of extreme cold - and will likely reopen them on Thursday after temperatures warm, company spokeswoman April Nelson said.
Tyson Foods Inc cancelled two shifts at a pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, while Hormel Foods Corp halted the hog slaughter at its processor in Austin, Minnesota, according to three people familiar with the operations.
Reuters
The polar temperatures may be insufferable to most Americans, but at least two polar bears at the Chicago zoo are reportedly having a great time.
Daily Beast reports the two are enjoying the historically cold temperatures and snow — right in the midst of mating season.
The Midwest isn’t the only region of the United States facing potential snow this week.
The Weather Channel reports of a new storm churning towards California that’s expected to bring feet of snow towards the state’s mountain regions.
Despite Donald Trump’s suggestions, the polar vortex does not refute the fact that climate change is taking place.
Here’s an example, showcasing how the month of January has featured unusually high temperatures across the country.
AP
The National Weather Service is warning over below average temperatures across “the Upper Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, into parts of the northern Mid-Atlantic.”
2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has tweeted the following message about the polar vortex:
“Extreme temperatures. Monster storms. Donald Trump & the GOP might not believe in science, but I do. We need to make fundamental changes to stop climate change – like passing a Green New Deal in Congress – and save our planet.”
The tweet arrives after Donald Trump joked about the cold temperatures in a tweet refuting the scientific validity of global warming.
Though the polar vortex is making for harrowing conditions across the United States, not everything about the system is completely bleak.
National weather reporter Jonathan Petramala posted this beautiful video landscape of the sun rising over Lake Michigan during the weather phenomenon.
The polar vortex sending record-low temperatures across the United States has strained the nation’s infrastructure, suspended the US postal service — along with thousands of flights — and caused a rising death toll.
General Motors Co said late on Wednesday it would temporarily suspend operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas.
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Milwaukee had similar conditions. Minneapolis recorded minus 26F (minus 32C) while Sioux Falls, South Dakota, saw minus 24F (minus 31C).
Wind chills reportedly made it feel like minus 49F (minus 45C) or worse.
Trains and buses in Chicago operated with few passengers as the hardiest commuters ventured out only after covering nearly every square inch of flesh against the extreme chill, which froze ice crystals on eyelashes and eyebrows in minutes.
The blast of polar air that enveloped much of the Midwest on Wednesday closed schools and businesses and strained infrastructure with some of the lowest temperatures in a generation.
The deep freeze snapped rail lines, cancelled hundreds of flights and strained utilities.
Crews in Detroit will need days to repair water mains that burst on 30 January, and other pipes can still burst in persistent subzero temperatures.
Temperatures are expected to improve later this week and more people are expected to return to work in the nation’s third largest city.
