Deep freeze in the Midwest

Ice forms on tree branches as New York firefighters battle a blaze in a commercial building in Brooklyn, New York.

Frank Lettiere’s eyebrows and eye lashes are frozen after walking along Lake Michigan’s ice covered shoreline as temperatures dropped to -20 degrees F in Chicago.

At Chicago airports, more than 1,700 flights were cancelled, according to the city’s Aviation Department due to the polar vortex in the Midwest.

A man waits to cross a street during heavy snow fall in downtown Manhattan.

Minneapolis Police Sgt. Grant Snyder hands out gloves, hats and food to the homeless while temperatures dropped to -24 degrees Fahrenheit in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Steam rises from the city and Lake Michigan as the sun comes up in Chicago. The Midwest is braced with a coldspell as a polar vortex sent temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

St. Paul firefighters at the scene of a house fire at Hatch Ave. and Park St. in St. Paul, Minn.

With temperatures dipping into the upper 20’s below zero with a -50 wind chill, St. Paul’s West 7th neighborhood was steaming Wednesday morning as furnaces tried to keep up with the record breaking cold.

Ice is seen on the side of the Great Falls National Historic Park as a couple takes in the sights during a frigid winter day in Paterson, N.J.

Chloe Adams of Minneapolis goes for a ski run with her dog, Roscoe. Temperatures in parts of southwestern Minnesota fell to negative 29 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pastor John Steger, with Grace in the City church, embraces Jearline Cyrus, a homeless woman, in downtown Minneapolis while delivering cold-weather gear, hot chocolate and food.

Braving the cold for a walk along Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.

University of Minnesota student Daniel Dylla, out for a jog in Minneapolis, frosted over in the morning cold Tuesday.

Water vapor rises Tuesday from Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

“They’re going to call me ‘wife of the frozen pants guy’ in my obituary,” said Karla Grotting with a laugh. Husband Tom has a winter tradition of freezing clothing for their yard in northeast Minneapolis.

A student from China poses for a picture along Lake Michigan in Chicago on Tuesday. Temperatures in the city plunged early Wednesday to minus 19 degrees.

A Metra train moves southbound toward downtown Chicago as the gas-fired switch heater on the rails keeps the ice and snow off the switches.

Jillian Hansen, a senior at the University of Minnesota, makes her way across campus.

Sheets of ice sit on the Chicago River near Wolf Point in Chicago.

Chicago’s El train moves along a snow-covered track in Chicago. The plunging temperatures expected later this week have forecasters especially concerned.

Commuters wait for a train as snow falls Monday in Chicago.The National Weather Service called the storm hitting the Midwest “possibly life threatening.”

The outbound Kennedy Expressway, left, and Edens Expressway in Chicago on a cold and snowy Monday morning.

Frost forms patterns on the window of a St. Joseph, Mich., home.

Vapor rises from Lake Michigan in Milwaukee.

Vehicles travel along a highway during a snowstorm in Appleton, Wis. Heavy snow and gusting winds created blizzard-like conditions across the Upper Midwest.

In Illinois, Don Milliken of Palatine clears snow from his neighbors’ sidewalks and driveways on Monday.