Polar Vortex 'Stay inside': Death toll up to 8 people as Arctic cold blasts Midwest, East

CHICAGO – A historic and deadly cold snap, fueled by the polar vortex, gripped a wide swath of the nation Wednesday, with temperatures plunging far below zero and wind chill numbers as extraordinary as they are dangerous.

Chicago's temperature tumbled to 21 below Wednesday morning, a record for the date and closing in on the city's all-time record of minus-27 set in 1985. That record could fall Thursday.

The wind chill dipped to an even more s

tartling 51 degrees below zero.

The National Weather Service said the temperature reached minus-28 degrees in Minneapolis, poised to break a record dating back more than 100 years. The wind chill: minus-49. Norris Camp, Minnesota, almost made it there without allowing for wind, recording an actual air temperature of 48 degrees below zero. 

Wind chill temperatures in dozens of towns across Minnesota and North Dakota plummeted to 60 below or less, the weather service said. Officials in Minnesota pulled snowplows off the roads in 11 southeastern counties, citing mechanical problems because of the extreme cold.

"One of the coldest arctic air mass intrusions in recent memory is surging south into the Upper Midwest before spreading across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country," the weather service said, warning of "life-threatening wind chills, likely leading to widespread record lows and low maximum temperatures."

Frostbite can set in within five minutes in such temperatures, the weather service said.

In the East on Wednesday, blinding snow squalls on highways caused at least three significant pileups of cars and trucks, two in Pennsylvania and one in New York. Near Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, dozens of vehicles were involved in a pileup,  and numerous injuries were reported, according to the Reading Eagle.

A pileup on the New York State Thruway between Batavia and LeRoy caused multiple injuries, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said.

At least eight deaths were linked to the weather, including a man struck and killed by a snowplow in the Chicago area, a young couple whose SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and, in Milwaukee, a man found frozen to death in a garage.

A student died in the hospital after he was found unresponsive outdoors by University of Iowa Police on the school's campus at around 3 a.m. local time Wednesday, KCRG-TV9 reported. It said officials believe the death of Gerald Belz, 18, a second-year pre-medicine major, was related to the weather. The wind chill was -51 degrees in Iowa City at the time. 

In Michigan, the body of a Detroit man was found in front of a neighbor's home, and in suburban Ecorse another man was found outside without a hat or gloves. A University of Iowa student was found dead Wednesday morning, and university officials believe the death was caused by the extreme weather.

The wind chill fell to 27 below in Detroit and minus-32 in Ann Arbor. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered that warming centers be opened across the state.

"Stay inside if you can," Whitmer pleaded. "And try to make sure that, if you see someone in need, you take action."

In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin took a different tack, telling WHAS radio that closing schools for cold weather “sends messages to our young people that if life is hard you can curl up in the fetal position somewhere.” Bevin added that he was being "only slightly facetious" and that it was better to err on the side of safety.

Thousands of flights into and out of airports in the region were delayed or canceled, including more than 1,000 flights at Chicago airports alone.

Amtrak pulled the plug in Chicago, announcing the "extreme weather conditions and an abundance of caution" led the service to cancel all trains to and from the city on Wednesday. Short-distance services are also canceled on Thursday, Amtrak said.

Light rail was also a mess as some suburban lines shut down Wednesday. The Chicago Transit Authority, which shuttles about 1.6 million riders on a typical weekday, reported significant or major delays on multiple routes during the morning commute.

Even the Postal Service took notice, announcing that because of concerns for the safety of its employees, mail won't be delivered Wednesday in parts of at least 10 states.

Chicago River freezing: Here's what it looks like in sub-zero temperatures

Homeless shelters and warming centers were abuzz across the region. In Chicago, officials added 500 shelter beds and tapped more than 100 religious leaders to make calls and checks on senior citizens. Five Chicago Transit Authority buses were dispatched to give homeless people a place to warm up who might not want to go to a shelter.

“Everyone of us has a role to check on somebody who is maybe a neighbor on the block who is elderly, infirm or needs extra help,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.