The polar vortex that arrived earlier this week has for days disrupted life across an entire region. Deaths and injuries were reported. Decades-old records fell. And, for one more day, even stepping outside remained a painful, risky experience.
But the forecast finally suggested relief ahead. By Thursday night, temperatures across much of the Midwest were expected to poke above zero. By the end of the weekend, meteorologists predicted as much as a 70- or 80-degree swing, with balmy-for-February readings in the 40s or 50s and rain instead of snow.
Still, risks remained. A band of snow complicated travel on Thursday, and in the Northeast, officials warned of their own cold wave, with heavy snow in some places and subzero wind chills in others.
At least eight deaths have been connected to the Midwest’s dangerously cold weather system, according to The Associated Press, including that of a University of Iowa student who was found behind an academic hall several hours before dawn on Wednesday.
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A weather observer in Mount Carroll, Illinois, recorded a temperature of minus 38 on Thursday morning. If confirmed by state officials, that would become Illinois’ record low, supplanting the previous record of minus 36.
The sustained cold taxed energy systems across the Midwest, leading to some power failures and urgent calls to customers to reduce the heat in their homes.
Many schools, businesses and restaurants remained shuttered on Thursday, though some offices were reopening and many more were expected to reopen Friday. By midday on Thursday, airlines had canceled more than 2,200 flights in the United States, according to FlightAware. On Wednesday, cancellations topped 2,700.
The East Coast was feeling the bitter cold, too. Temperatures barely broke the double digits in New York City.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.