Washington, January 7
The coldest, most dangerous blast of polar air in decades has gripped the US Midwest and pushed toward the East and South and eastern Canada, closing schools and day care centres, grounding flights and forcing people to pull their hoods and scarves tight to protect exposed skin from nearly instant frostbite.

Temperatures have been running in the negative range as a result of “Polar Vortex” that has paralysed most of the states, including Chicago, plunging deep in the historic freeze.

Chicago saw a record low of -16 °C, and with a windchill of -34 °C yesterday due to an Arctic blast that plunged deep into the central US. The historic freeze that “polar vortex” is pushing into much of the US is reportedly not just another winter storm and it is the coldest in 20 years in many areas.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton ordered the state’s 2,000 public schools to close, the first such order since 1997. The National Weather Service has warned that wind chills in the 40-below range can cause frostbite in a matter of minutes.

Wind chills across the region were 40 degrees below zero and colder. Records also fell in Oklahoma, Texas and Indiana. Forecasters said some 187 million people in all could feel the effects of the “polar vortex” by the time it spread across the country today. Agencies