Extreme cold to blame for deaths, canceled flights

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- At least three people have died as bone-chilling temperatures and heavy snow brought the coldest winter weather in decades to much of the Midwest on Tuesday.

The Noble County Sheriff's Office in Indiana said a couple was killed in a two-car crash at 6:20 p.m. on Monday night and a Milwaukee man was found frozen to death Tuesday in a garage after the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said he may have collapsed while shoveling snow, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Meteorologists say the polar vortex will bring sustained frigid temperatures to a dozen states, and will likely set new records for coldest maximum daily temperature.

In Chicago, the temperature plummeted from 34 degrees Monday to 3 degrees early Tuesday. The high forecast for Chicago on Tuesday is 5 degrees. Northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin are under a wind chill advisory.

The National Weather Service said the temperature fell in Minneapolis to below zero early Tuesday and will probably stay there until Friday. Temperatures possibly in the minus 30s are forecast for Minneapolis and the minus 20s for Chicago, Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa.

The cold should be record-breaking. The last time Chicago saw 20 below was 1994 -- and Madison, Wis., last saw 30 below in 1963.

Some schools are closed in Chicago and more are expected to close Wednesday, officials said. Schools in Milwaukee closed Tuesday and will likely remain closed through Thursday because of the cold.

School districts in Minnesota are closed Tuesday and many canceled for Wednesday.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Ever declared a state of emergency so the state could call National Guardsmen to active duty to support emergency responders.

"The intensity of this cold air, I would say, is once in a generation," John Gagan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wisconsin, {link:told the Journal Sentinel. : "https://www.jsonline.com/story/weather/2019/01/28/polar-vortex-pushing-arctic-cold-into-wisconsin-tuesday-night-through-friday-morning/2702440002/" target="_blank"}

Actual thermometer readings could be as low as 12 degrees below zero with wind chills much colder than that.

"To be outside for any length of time with wind chills minus 40 or colder is dangerous, or even deadly," said Jeff Last, National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist in Green Bay, Wis. "If you have to be out, make sure you dress in layers and try to limit the amount of time outside as much as you can. Make sure all skin is covered."

Frostbite can set in quickly in extreme temperatures. At 20 degrees below zero, frostbite can happen in 30 minutes. At 60 degrees below, it can take about five minutes.

In Minneapolis, a fleet of 200 trucks were working Tuesday morning to get the roads ready for rush-hour traffic. The chemicals crews use to treat the roads don't work as well during freezing temperatures. Minnesota state police responded to 134 crashes and 137 spin-outs statewide during a 10-hour span Monday.

"Motorists need to slow down and give plows room," said Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht.

The snow could stretch as far south as Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, where Atlanta will host Super Bowl LIII on Sunday. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines will proactively cancel 170 flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. By reducing the number of flights, Delta officials hope to keep operations running smoothly ahead of any snow or ice.

Hundreds more flights have been canceled. Atlanta's airport has so far seen the most, with about 300 scrapped flights. Chicago's Midway also faces major cancellations, officials said.

A total of 1,374 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Tuesday and 2,617 were delayed, according to flight tracking website Flight Aware.

The Interstate 95 corridor will see rain change over to light snow Tuesday from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and New York City.

Up to 10 inches of snow fell overnight Monday in parts of Michigan, Colorado and Wisconsin. Areas in North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana have received up to 6 inches.