Cold Wave Washes Over Midwest; 23 Die in Chicago

The lowest temperatures in a decade sent shivers through the Midwest on Wednesday, with many places colder than 30 degrees below zero and records broken in nine states.

Meteorologist Joel Burgio of Weather Services Corp. said, “We’re not sure, but it may be warmer at the North Pole.”

Through Monday, Chicago had already recorded 23 deaths directly blamed on cold weather, the latest that of a 36-year-old man who froze in an abandoned building. An infant girl and her grandparents died in their Chicago home in a blaze triggered by a kerosene space heater, fire officials said.

Frigid temperatures froze fire hydrants and coated firefighters with icicles as they battled blazes across the region started by malfunctioning heaters or when people set the fires intentionally in an attempt to stay warm.

“I have to say I have never been so sick of winter. I have had it,” said Marvel Sjostrom at Seeley, Wis., where her home thermometer showed a temperature of 48 below zero.

Record lows for the date were tied or broken in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois.

Tower and Embarrass, Minn., were coldest of all, with readings of 55 below. A wind-chill reading of 74 below was reported at Hallock, Minn. The “nation’s icebox,” International Falls, reached 35 below, tying its record for the date and marking the 10th consecutive day of temperatures at least 30 below zero there.

“We were hoping for that. Our image has been bad for the last couple of years because it’s been too warm,” said Sonny Nesbitt, 69, a retired state trooper in International Falls.

Burgio said a stubborn high-pressure system over Greenland had shoved a circumpolar vortex, or Arctic air, down onto North America.

He warned that a second, colder blast is expected this weekend, with subfreezing temperatures possible as far south as Florida.

In Utah, it was snow that caused trouble.

Several avalanches that originated high in the Wasatch Mountains joined in one huge slide that dammed a river, forcing the temporary evacuation of the small community of Springdell.

The avalanche, estimated at 60 feet deep and up to half a mile wide, also blocked highways through the Provo and American Fork canyons and damaged a mountain resort tramway, said Utah County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Fernstedt.

No injuries were reported.

The snow dammed the Provo River at a point where it is about 5 feet deep, forming a reservoir that quickly rose 15 to 20 feet, Fernstedt said.

The cold was blamed for a fire that destroyed or damaged three buildings that housed a school’s shop classes in Sterling, Neb. Maintenance workers had been using hand-held propane heaters to thaw frozen water pipes, said Supt. Robert Norton. No one was injured.