Brutal deep freeze grips US Midwest

Millions across the Midwest experienced a freeze normally reserved for the Arctic Circle on Wednesday as temperatures dropped to nearly 50 degrees below zero.

At least a dozen deaths related to extremely cold weather have been reported since Saturday in Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, according to officials and media reports.

The nearly unthinkable temperatures caused airline gas lines to freeze and electrical grids to collapse, and they kept much of the northern United States homebound. Power outages roiled swaths of Wisconsin and Iowa, plunging thousands into brief, unheated darkness. The dry, frigid air froze exposed water instantly, led to spontaneous nosebleeds, and made even brief forays outdoors extremely hazardous.

Officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota had linked six deaths to the weather as of Wednesday night, including several people who probably froze to death. Governors in Wisconsin and Michigan declared states of emergency and ordered all state government offices closed; some state agencies in Illinois were closed Wednesday, as well.

"I am urging people to prepare for this severe weather and to exercise caution when traveling or going outdoors," Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said.

Classes were canceled for Wednesday and Thursday for students across the Midwest, including Chicago, home of the nation’s third-largest school system, and police warned of the heightened risk of accidents on icy highways. Michigan said all state offices would remain closed through Thursday.

Mail service were interrupted and more than 1,000 airline flight canceled. Scores of restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops shuttered for the day or shortened business hours.

The capitol building here, where people sought shelter during business hours, remained open as the temperatures outside plunged to minus-24; the estimated wind chill made it feel like minus-48 degrees.

It was colder than Alaska's North Slope in many places, including Norris Camp, Minn., where temperatures dropped to minus-48 degrees Wednesday morning - with the wind chill pegged at minus-65 - making the town the coldest reporting location in the United States and one of the coldest spots on Earth.