(104.3 WOMC) -- Let her go! An Illinois police department has placed Elsa -- The Queen of Arendell from the Disney movie "Frozen" -- under arrest for bringing frigid cold temperatures to the Midwest.

The McLean Police Department shared the arrest on its Facebook page Tuesday, writing: "Due to the EXTREME COLD weather, all criminal activity and acts of stupidity and foolishness has been cancelled ... Even Elsa has been placed under arrest with NO BOND until further notice."

An officer even used pink handcuffs.

The cold may not bother Elsa, but it's definitely bothering everyone else.

A new record cold of seven below zero was set early Wednesday morning in Metro Detroit, breaking the record of four below set back in 1951. Another record could be set tonight when temperatures could drop to 10 below.

Metro Detroit temperatures right now are colder than Fairbanks, Alaska and the planet Mars. A Wind Chill Warning remains in effect until 11 a.m. Thursday, with current wind chill readings more than 30 below.</s>MILWAUKEE (AP) — Extremely cold, record-breaking temperatures are settling across parts of the Midwest after a powerful snowstorm pounded the region overnight Monday, and forecasters are describing the subzero weather on the way as potentially life-threatening.

Minneapolis Public Schools announced there would be no classes through Wednesday, when the region will experience frigidly low temperatures not seen in a quarter century.

"You're talking about frostbite and hypothermia issues very quickly, like in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds," said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.

The cold also prompted officials to close some schools in eastern Iowa, while Chicago Public Schools officials said they were monitoring the weather ahead of Wednesday's cold snap. The Chicago Zoological Society, meanwhile, said it's closing the Brookfield Zoo on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure the safety of employees and animals. It's only the fourth time the zoo has closed during its 85-year history.

Subzero temperatures will begin Tuesday but Wednesday is expected to be the worst. Wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees (negative 48 degrees Celsius), which the National Weather Service called "possibly life threatening." Minnesota temperatures could hit minus 30 degrees (negative 34 degrees Celsius) with a wind chill of negative 60 (negative 51 degrees Celsius). The potentially record-breaking low temperature forecast in Milwaukee is negative 28 degrees (negative 33 degrees Celsius), with a wind chill as low as negative 50 (negative 45 degrees Celsius). The current record of minus 26 degrees (negative 32 degrees Celsius) was set in 1996.

"That's 40 degrees below normal," Hurley said.

The high temperature forecast at O'Hare on Wednesday is negative 14 degrees (negative 25 degrees Celsius), which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.

Homeless shelters were preparing for the onslaught of cold. The Milwaukee Rescue Mission's call volume was "unusually high," but there should still be enough beds for those who need them, said the mission's president, Pat Vanderburgh. Charitable groups that operate warming places and shelters in Minneapolis were expanding hours and capacity as the cold moved into the city where 1,500 people typically are sheltered on a given night.

"The charitable organizations responsible for operating shelters are adding emergency capacity as they do whenever dangerous extreme temperature events occur," said Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage. He said ambulance crews in the city were handling all outside response incidents as being potentially life-threatening.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged residents to check on their neighbors and take safety precautions. He said city agencies are making sure homeless people are in shelters or offered space in warming buses.

Cold weather advisories are in effect across a broad swath of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

The unusually frigid weather is attributed to a sudden warming way above the North Pole. A sudden blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the North Pole rapidly rise about 125 degrees (70 degrees Celsius). That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, according to Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial firm outside Boston. One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

On Monday, snowplow drivers had trouble keeping up with the snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where some areas got as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters). Chicago-area commuters woke up to heavy snowfall, with more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) already on the ground. In Michigan, nonessential government offices were closed, including the Capitol.

Rare snowfall was also forecast for some southern states . Forecasters warned of up to 3 inches (7 centimeters) of snow in central Mississippi and Alabama by Tuesday morning and said temperatures will plummet as arctic cold blasts southward. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency ahead of the storm.

Associated Press reporters Caryn Rousseau in Chicago, Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and David Runk in Detroit contributed to this report.</s>Frozen water mains and strained natural gas supplies left the US Midwest struggling Thursday as a deadly Arctic air mass had tens of millions of Americans shivering for a second day.

Ten deaths have been attributed to the extreme weather since the weekend.

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travellers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.

Natural gas supplies were under threat in Michigan and Minnesota, where authorities asked residents to reduce their heat consumption if at all possible.

Frozen water mains broke in Detroit and parts of Canada.

More than 1,600 flights were canceled in Chicago by mid-morning. Airport crews worked in 15-minute increments on the tarmac to avoid frostbite.

Amtrak planned to begin restoring service to some trains after canceling all service Wednesday out of Chicago.

The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift by Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.

"Temperatures will slowly begin to moderate as the air mass slowly warms," the National Weather Service said.

The agency forecast wind chill temperatures Thursday would still range between -20 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 to -46 Celsius) over parts of the Upper Midwest.

The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago's downtown.

The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing "frost quakes."

Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.

Officials in multiple states warned that the extreme weather should be taken seriously, with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite setting in within minutes of exposure.

"They are life-threatening temperatures, and they should be treated accordingly," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cautioned residents Wednesday evening.

Hundreds of warming centers were opened for vulnerable residents such as seniors, and shelter capacities increased for the homeless.

Among the 10 reported dead this week was an 18-year-old University of Iowa student.

He was found unresponsive behind a campus building Wednesday morning, when wind chill temperatures in Iowa City were -51F (-46C), according to local TV station KCCI.

Officials warned residents to remain on guard Thursday while the sub-zero weather persisted.

"Remember to check on your neighbors and loved ones to make sure they're safe during this brutally cold weather," Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker tweeted.

Authorities in Michigan and Minnesota were also asking residents to turn down their thermostats to conserve natural gas.

Supplies were strained due to high demand from home heaters and from a fire at a natural gas compressor station in Michigan, officials said.

"Due to extremely high demand for natural gas with these record low temperatures and a facility incident, Consumers Energy has asked that everyone who is able to turn down their thermostats through Friday at noon so we can all get through this with minimal harm," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement.

Detroit's three major auto makers all suspended or curtailed manufacturing and other operations to conserve natural gas, according to The Detroit News.

City crews braved sub-zero weather to repair a number of frozen water main breaks that plagued Motor City neighborhoods.

America's northern neighbor Canada was also contending with extreme cold, with frozen water pipes, snarled travel on a major waterway, and temperatures as low as -40F (-40C) on Wednesday.</s>CHICAGO — The painfully cold weather system that put much of the Midwest into a historic deep freeze was expected to ease Thursday, though temperatures could still tumble to record lows in some places before the region begins to thaw out.

Disruptions caused by the cold will persist, too, including power outages and canceled flights and trains. Crews in Detroit will need days to repair water mains that burst Wednesday, and other pipes can still burst in persistent subzero temperatures.

Before the worst of the cold begins to lift, the National Weather Service said Chicago could hit lows early Thursday that break the city's record of minus 27 (minus 32 Celsius) set on Jan. 20, 1985. Some nearby isolated areas could see temperatures as low as minus 40 (minus 40 Celsius). That would break the Illinois record of minus 36 (minus 38 Celsius), set in Congerville on Jan. 5, 1999.

As temperatures bounce back into the single digits Thursday and into the comparative balmy 20s by Friday, more people were expected to return to work in the nation's third-largest city, which resembled a ghost town after most offices told employees to stay home.

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, canceled hundreds of flights and strained utilities.

Chicago dropped to a low of around minus 23 (minus 30 Celsius), slightly above the city's lowest-ever reading of minus 27 (minus 32 Celsius) from January 1985. Milwaukee had similar conditions. Minneapolis recorded minus 27 (minus 32 Celsius). Sioux Falls, South Dakota, saw minus 25 (minus 31 Celsius).

Wind chills reportedly made it feel like minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius) or worse. Trains and buses in Chicago operated with few passengers. 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 Postal Service took the rare step of suspending mail delivery in many places, and in southeastern Minnesota, even the snowplows were idled by the weather.

The bitter cold was the result of a split in the polar vortex, a mass of cold air that normally stays bottled up in the Arctic. The split allowed the air to spill much farther south than usual. In fact, Chicago was colder than the Canadian village of Alert, one of the world's most northerly inhabited places. Alert, which is 500 miles (804 kilometers) from the North Pole, reported a temperature that was a couple of degrees higher.

Officials in dozens of cities focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold, including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing.

At least eight deaths were linked to the system, including an elderly Illinois man who was found several hours after he fell trying to get into his home and a University of Iowa student found behind an academic hall several hours before dawn. Elsewhere, a man was struck by a snowplow in the Chicago area, a young couple's SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and a Milwaukee man froze to death in a garage, authorities said.

Aside from the safety risks and the physical discomfort, the system's icy grip also took a heavy toll on infrastructure, halting transportation, knocking out electricity and interrupting water service.

Amtrak canceled scores of trains to and from Chicago, one of the nation's busiest rail hubs. Several families who intended to leave for Pennsylvania stood in ticket lines at Chicago's Union Station only to be told all trains were canceled until Friday.

"Had I known we'd be stranded here, we would have stayed in Mexico longer — where it was warmer," said Anna Ebersol, who was traveling with her two sons.

Ten diesel-train lines in the Metra commuter network kept running, unlike the electric lines, but crews had to heat vital switches with gas flames and watched for rails that were cracked or broken. When steel rails break or even crack, trains are automatically halted until they are diverted or the section of rail is repaired, Metra spokesman Michael Gillis explained.

A track in the Minneapolis light-rail system also cracked, forcing trains to share the remaining track for a few hours.

In Detroit, more than two dozen water mains froze. Customers were connected to other mains to keep water service from being interrupted, Detroit Water and Sewerage spokesman Bryan Peckinpaugh said.

Most mains were installed from the early 1900s to the 1950s. They are 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) underground and beneath the frost line, but that matters little when temperatures drop so dramatically, Peckinpaugh said.

On a typical winter day, the city has five to nine breaks, with each taking about three days to fix. But those repairs will take longer now with the large number of failures to fix, he added.

Detroit is in the second year of a $500 million program to rehab its water and sewer system. Last year, 25 miles (40 kilometers) of water mains were replaced.

"Water pipes are brittle. The more years they've gone through the freeze-thaw cycle," the greater the stress and strain, said Greg DiLoreto, a volunteer with the American Society of Civil Engineers and chair of its committee on American infrastructure.

Pipes laid a century ago have far exceeded the life span for which they were designed, said DiLoreto, who described the aging process as "living on borrowed time."

"When we put them in — back in the beginning — we never thought they would last this long," he said.

The same freeze-thaw cycle beats up concreate and asphalt roads and bridges, resulting in teeth-jarring potholes.

"You won't see them until it starts warming up and the trucks start rolling over the pavement again," said DiLoreto who is based in Portland, Oregon.

A harbor light is covered by snow and ice on the Lake Michigan at 39th Street Harbor, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Williams reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers Caryn Rousseau in Chicago, Rick Callahan in Indianapolis, Mike Householder in Detroit, David Koenig in Dallas, Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and Blake Nicholson in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this story.</s>MILWAUKEE (AP) — Extremely cold, record-breaking temperatures are settling across parts of the Midwest after a powerful snowstorm pounded the region overnight Monday, and forecasters are describing the subzero weather on the way as potentially life-threatening.

Minneapolis Public Schools announced there would be no classes through Wednesday, when the region will experience frigidly low temperatures not seen in a quarter century.

"You're talking about frostbite and hypothermia issues very quickly, like in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds," said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.

The cold also prompted officials to close some schools in eastern Iowa, while Chicago Public Schools officials said they were monitoring the weather ahead of Wednesday's cold snap. The Chicago Zoological Society, meanwhile, said it's closing the Brookfield Zoo on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure the safety of employees and animals. It's only the fourth time the zoo has closed during its 85-year history.

Subzero temperatures will begin Tuesday but Wednesday is expected to be the worst. Wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees (negative 48 degrees Celsius), which the National Weather Service called "possibly life threatening." Minnesota temperatures could hit minus 30 degrees (negative 34 degrees Celsius) with a wind chill of negative 60 (negative 51 degrees Celsius). The potentially record-breaking low temperature forecast in Milwaukee is negative 28 degrees (negative 33 degrees Celsius), with a wind chill as low as negative 50 (negative 45 degrees Celsius). The current record of minus 26 degrees (negative 32 degrees Celsius) was set in 1996.

"That's 40 degrees below normal," Hurley said.

The high temperature forecast at O'Hare on Wednesday is negative 14 degrees (negative 25 degrees Celsius), which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.

Homeless shelters were preparing for the onslaught of cold. The Milwaukee Rescue Mission's call volume was "unusually high," but there should still be enough beds for those who need them, said the mission's president, Pat Vanderburgh. Charitable groups that operate warming places and shelters in Minneapolis were expanding hours and capacity as the cold moved into the city where 1,500 people typically are sheltered on a given night.

"The charitable organizations responsible for operating shelters are adding emergency capacity as they do whenever dangerous extreme temperature events occur," said Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage. He said ambulance crews in the city were handling all outside response incidents as being potentially life-threatening.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged residents to check on their neighbors and take safety precautions. He said city agencies are making sure homeless people are in shelters or offered space in warming buses.

Cold weather advisories are in effect across a broad swath of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

The unusually frigid weather is attributed to a sudden warming way above the North Pole. A sudden blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the North Pole rapidly rise about 125 degrees (70 degrees Celsius). That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, according to Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial firm outside Boston. One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

On Monday, snowplow drivers had trouble keeping up with the snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where some areas got as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters). Chicago-area commuters woke up to heavy snowfall, with more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) already on the ground. In Michigan, nonessential government offices were closed, including the Capitol.

Rare snowfall was also forecast for some southern states . Forecasters warned of up to 3 inches (7 centimeters) of snow in central Mississippi and Alabama by Tuesday morning and said temperatures will plummet as arctic cold blasts southward. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency ahead of the storm.

Associated Press reporters Caryn Rousseau in Chicago, Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and David Runk in Detroit contributed to this report.</s>(MILWAUKEE) — Extreme cold and record-breaking temperatures are crawling into parts of the Midwest after a powerful snowstorm pounded the region, and forecasters warn that the frigid weather could be life-threatening.

Minneapolis Public Schools officials have canceled classes through Wednesday, when the region is expected to experience frigidly low temperatures not seen in a quarter century. Hundreds of Michigan schools were closed Tuesday, including in Detroit, while Chicago Public Schools canceled Wednesday classes because of the anticipated cold snap.

“You’re talking about frostbite and hypothermia issues very quickly, like in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds,” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.

Subzero temperatures will begin Tuesday, but Wednesday is expected to be the worst. Wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees (negative 48 degrees Celsius), which the National Weather Service called “possibly life threatening.” Minnesota temperatures could hit minus 30 degrees (negative 34 degrees Celsius) with a wind chill of negative 60 (negative 51 degrees Celsius).

The potentially record-breaking low temperature forecast in Milwaukee is negative 28 degrees (negative 33 degrees Celsius), with a wind chill as low as negative 50 (negative 45 degrees Celsius). The current record of minus 26 degrees (negative 32 degrees Celsius) was set in 1996.

 “That’s 40 degrees below normal,” Hurley said.

The unusually frigid weather is attributed to a sudden warming far above the North Pole . A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

The Chicago Zoological Society said it was closing the Brookfield Zoo on Wednesday and Thursday — marking only the fourth time the zoo has closed during its 85-year history — to ensure the safety of its employees and animals. At O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, the high temperature Wednesday is expected to be negative 14 degrees (negative 25 degrees Celsius), which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.

 Homeless shelters were also preparing for the onslaught of cold. The Milwaukee Rescue Mission’s call volume was “unusually high,” but officials said there should still be enough beds for those who need them.

In Minneapolis, charitable groups that operate warming places and shelters were expanding hours and capacity “as they do whenever dangerous extreme temperature events occur,” said Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage. He said ambulance crews were handling all outside response incidents as being potentially life-threatening.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said city agencies are making sure homeless people are in shelters or offered space in warming buses. He also urged residents to check on their neighbors and take safety precautions.

The governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have declared states of emergency ahead of the dangerously cold weather.

Cold weather advisories are in effect across a broad swath of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

On Monday, snowplow drivers had trouble keeping up with the snowfall in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where some areas got as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow. Chicago-area commuters woke up to heavy snowfall, with more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) already on the ground. In Michigan, nonessential government offices were closed, including the Capitol.

Rare snowfall was also forecast for some southern states.</s>Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day as the mercury dipped to record lows in several states.

CHICAGO: Brutally cold temperatures gripped the US Midwest on Thursday (Jan 31), freezing water mains, causing power outages, canceling flights and straining natural gas supplies.

Tens of millions of Americans shivered for a second day as the mercury dipped to record lows in several states.

Ten deaths have been attributed to the sub-zero weather and a weekend snowstorm that deluged the same region. Many of the cold-related fatalities were in Michigan, where the governor said the death toll was still being confirmed.

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travelers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.

Natural gas supplies were under threat in Michigan and Minnesota. Authorities asked residents to reduce heat consumption wherever possible and decreased heating in government buildings.

Water mains froze in Detroit, Chicago and parts of Canada and power outages were reported in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Nearly 1,700 flights had been canceled in Chicago by Thursday afternoon. Airport crews worked in 15-minute increments on the tarmac to avoid frostbite.

Amtrak planned to begin restoring service to some trains after canceling all lines Wednesday in and out of Chicago.

The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift on Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.

"We are not done yet. We've got another 24 hours where the weather will be at dangerous levels," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a news conference.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said temperatures would slowly moderate, but the agency forecast wind chills Thursday would remain between -20 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 to -46 Celsius) over parts of the Upper Midwest.

The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago's downtown.

MORE SNOW TO COME

The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing "frost quakes."

Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.

The NWS said a low temperature of -21F (-29C) was recorded in Chicago on Thursday morning. The record low of -27F (-33C) was on Jan 20, 1985.

It said a historic low temperature for Illinois of -38F (-39C) had been reported in the town of Mt Carroll and was being reviewed before being declared a state record.

Record low temperatures were also reported in some towns in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Officials in multiple states warned that the extreme weather should be taken seriously, with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite setting in within minutes of exposure.

There were also concerns over another round of snow late Thursday, after a weekend snowstorm inundated the areas now frozen by Arctic cold.

"We've gone from snow to freezing temperatures, wind chill," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference. "With more snow on the way, we're not out of the woods yet."

Hundreds of warming centers were opened for vulnerable residents such as seniors, and shelter capacities increased for the homeless.

Among the 10 reported dead this week was an 18-year-old University of Iowa student.

He was found unresponsive behind a campus building Wednesday morning, when wind chill temperatures in Iowa City were -51F (-46C), according to local TV station KCCI.

While officials warned residents to remain on guard as long as the sub-zero weather persisted, authorities in Michigan and Minnesota were also asking them to turn down their thermostats to conserve natural gas.

Supplies were strained due to high demand from home heaters and from a fire at a natural gas compressor station in Michigan, officials said.

"This is not over until noon tomorrow. And we are asking people to continue to keep the thermostat down," Michigan Governor Whitmer said.

General Motors and Fiat Chrysler suspended or curtailed operations at more than a dozen facilities in Michigan to conserve natural gas, the companies said.

City crews braved sub-zero weather to repair a number of frozen water main breaks that plagued Motor City neighbourhoods.

Chicago reported 22 broken water mains, 16 of which had already been repaired.

America's northern neighbour Canada was also contending with extreme cold, with frozen water pipes, snarled travel on a major waterway, and temperatures as low as -40F (-40C) on Wednesday.</s>Temperatures have dropped to their lowest level in seven years, plummeting to a low of -14.4C in Aberdeenshire.

Braemar became the coldest place in the UK since February 11, 2012, when it fell to -15.6C in Holbeach in Lincolnshire.

All four countries in the UK set new records for the 2018/2019 winter overnight, with Sennybridge, Powys, dropping to -9.3C, Katesbridge in Northern Ireland falling to -8.2C and Redesdale Camp, Northumberland, recording temperatures of -10.5C.

The deepest snowfall recorded by the Met Office was 11cm at Tulloch Bridge near Inverness on Wednesday while forecasters warned that most of Scotland should now be prepared for snow.

These freezing temperatures have led to weather warnings being issued by the Met Office for snow, ice and fog on Thursday and into Friday.

Met Office forecaster Mark Wilson said the cold temperatures were due to stick around.

"It's been a very, very cold night. On Thursday night we could see similar temperatures in Scotland.

"Saturday night into Sunday could also be very cold."

The low temperatures are related to the polar vortex gripping much of the US.

People in Chicago experienced temperatures of -30C, colder than parts of Antarctica.

The US National Weather Service warned that frostbite is possible within just ten minutes of being outside in such extreme temperatures.

And although temperatures are not as cold in the UK, a jet stream that stems from the polar vortex has passed over the country.

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are.</s>CHICAGO: Frozen water mains and strained natural gas supplies left the US Midwest struggling on Thursday (Jan 31)as a deadly Arctic air mass had tens of millions of Americans shivering for a second day.

Ten deaths have been attributed to the extreme weather since the weekend.

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travellers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.

Natural gas supplies were under threat in Michigan and Minnesota, where authorities asked residents to reduce their heat consumption if at all possible.

Frozen water mains broke in Detroit and parts of Canada.

More than 1,600 flights were canceled in Chicago by mid-morning. Airport crews worked in 15-minute increments on the tarmac to avoid frostbite.

Amtrak planned to begin restoring service to some trains after cancelling all service on Wednesday out of Chicago.

The deadly, sub-zero temperatures were expected to lift by Friday, but the misery would not end quickly in the roughly dozen states most affected.

"Temperatures will slowly begin to moderate as the air mass slowly warms," the National Weather Service said.

The agency forecast wind chill temperatures on Thursday would still range between -20 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 to -46 Celsius) over parts of the Upper Midwest.

The cold has frozen sections of Niagara Falls and sent blocks of ice floating down the river winding through Chicago's downtown.

The Arctic air mass that descended from its usual northern rotation on Wednesday caused the second coldest day ever recorded in the Windy City, where residents reported hearing "frost quakes."

Local television station WGN said booms heard by residents were likely frozen, water-saturated ground cracking under their feet.

Officials in multiple states warned that the extreme weather should be taken seriously, with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite setting in within minutes of exposure.

"They are life-threatening temperatures, and they should be treated accordingly," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cautioned residents Wednesday evening.

Hundreds of warming centres were opened for vulnerable residents such as seniors, and shelter capacities increased for the homeless.

Among the 10 reported dead this week was an 18-year-old University of Iowa student.

He was found unresponsive behind a campus building Wednesday morning, when wind chill temperatures in Iowa City were -51F (-46C), according to local TV station KCCI.

Officials warned residents to remain on guard Thursday while the sub-zero weather persisted.

"Remember to check on your neighbors and loved ones to make sure they're safe during this brutally cold weather," Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker tweeted.

Authorities in Michigan and Minnesota were also asking residents to turn down their thermostats to conserve natural gas.

Supplies were strained due to high demand from home heaters and from a fire at a natural gas compressor station in Michigan, officials said.

"Due to extremely high demand for natural gas with these record low temperatures and a facility incident, Consumers Energy has asked that everyone who is able to turn down their thermostats through Friday at noon so we can all get through this with minimal harm," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement.

Detroit's three major auto makers all suspended or curtailed manufacturing and other operations to conserve natural gas, according to The Detroit News.

City crews braved sub-zero weather to repair a number of frozen water main breaks that plagued Motor City neighborhoods.

America's northern neighbor Canada was also contending with extreme cold, with frozen water pipes, snarled travel on a major waterway, and temperatures as low as -40F (-40C) on Wednesday.</s>A blast of life-threatening cold air continues to grip the U.S. Midwest and is now blamed for at least 12 deaths. Linda So reports.
Ten deaths have been reported across the midwest due to the record breaking low temperatures.