Icy Blast Brings Record Lows to the Midwest

An icy blast toppled low temperature records Thursday across the northern Plains and upper Midwest, sending Ely, Minn., to 51 below zero.

Besides Ely, record lows for the date included 43 below at International Falls, Minn.; 36 below in Aberdeen, S.D.; 35 below in St. Cloud, Minn., and 25 below in Briggsdale, Colo.

In some places, the wind made things even worse. By midmorning, Sidney, Mont., was 30 degrees below zero and had a windchill of minus 86. The Minot, N.D., Air Force base recorded a noon temperature of minus 33, with a windchill of 93 below.

“Even zero looks good right now,” said Steve Perkins at a Bismarck, N.D., cafe.

The cold has been blamed for several deaths. A 75-year-old woman in Craig, Mont., froze after she fell near her car and could not get up. In Nebraska, an 89-year-old man died in a house fire started by a space heater used to thaw frozen water lines.

“It takes your breath away,” said Ron Dockter, a principal who called off classes for 440 students in Tioga, N.D. “It’s brutal out there.”

In central and northern Texas, meanwhile, freezing rain left several cities virtually paralyzed.

Schools, businesses and government offices shut down and police warned drivers to stay off the icy streets, Reuters reported.

At least 3,600 car crashes were reported in Dallas and at least 150 flights were canceled at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

In Bismarck, Jay Krantz, who drives a tow truck for a service station, was busy with cars that wouldn’t start. Under his coveralls, Krantz wore two pairs of long underwear, jeans, a T-shirt, two more shirts, an insulated flannel shirt, his service station uniform shirt and a winter coat.

“The wind blows right through everything,” he said.