MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Midwestern US warned of 'life-threatening' temperatures of up to minus 51 Celsius

Icy conditions have cancelled flights and preemptively closed schools

Residents of the Midwestern United States braced for the coldest weather in two decades, temperatures that forecasters warned would be life-threatening. An estimated one third of the US population has been affected by the extreme weather conditions that also reached neighboring Canada.

 Icy conditions snarled travel across the region and thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, some officials preemptively closed schools, and at a New York City airport a plane skidded off a runway into snow days after the Northeast was hammered by the first winter storm of the season.

“The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central U.S. today behind an arctic cold front,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory posted on its website today.

”Combined with gusty winds, these temperatures will result in life-threatening wind chill values as low as 60 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit/ -51 Celsius).”

In weather that cold, frostbite can set in on uncovered skin in a matter of minutes, experts warned.

But fans of the NFL's Green Bay Packers vowed to brave the weather to see a playoff matchup that could stand as one of the coldest ever games in league history.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, forecasters warned Chicago and Indianapolis could see overnight lows of -12 F (-24 C), Minneapolis -29 F (-34 C) and Fargo, North Dakota, -31 F (-35 C). The coldest temperature reported in the lower 48 states was -36 F (-38 C) in Crane Lake, Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service.