A runner wears the cold on his face while running along West River Parkway hills Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, near downtown Minneapolis, with temperatures hovering near minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Students stayed home from school Thursday and several businesses were closed in parts of the upper Midwest as arctic air pushed wind chill readings to dangerously low temperatures.
A wind chill warning was in effect for northeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota, with wind chill readings plunging to more than 40 below zero (-40 Celsius) in some areas. Forecasters from the National Weather Service urged people to limit time outdoors and bundle up, as exposed skin could be subject to frostbite in as little as 10 minutes.
It's possible that at least one death could be attributed to the cold. Police in Omaha said they found the body of Robert Freymuller, 80, early Thursday in a street not far from the assisted-living center where he lived. His death is being investigated, but police said he was not dressed appropriately for the weather; the wind chill had dropped to minus 26 degrees (minus 32 Celsius) at that time.
In Minnesota, the coldest wind chill reading was in Fosston, in northwestern Minnesota, where the wind chill reached 48 degrees below (-44 Celsius), the National Weather Service said.
Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District notified parents that classes were canceled 'œdue to extreme winter weather conditions in the early morning hours.'ť Several other districts were closed, and some had e-learning days, meaning that students received instruction online.
Schools, businesses and organizations were also closed or were opening late in Nebraska and Iowa on Thursday, as temperatures dropped to about 10-20 degrees below average in the northern and central Plains. Montana, South Dakota, Wisconsin and northern Missouri were also under wind chill advisories.
The upper Midwest will see some relief from the bitter cold over the weekend, as the cold air is expected to push into the Ohio Valley and interior New England and the lower Great Lakes region by Friday.
Steam fog rises from open water on the Mississippi River near the old Sartell, Minn., bridge as temperatures hover around minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit, Thursday morning, Feb. 13, 2020, near St. Cloud, Minn.. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP)
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A runner endures the cold while running along West River Parkway, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, near downtown Minneapolis, as temperatures hover near minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
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Steam rises from the Mississippi River along West River Parkway, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, near downtown Minneapolis, as temperatures hover near minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
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Bundled up against cold temperatures and light snow, passengers wait for a light rail train to pull up to a station, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in downtown Denver. Forecasters predict that the cold temperatures and snow will move out on to the plains and make way for warmer weather in the intermountain West in the weekend ahead. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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In this Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, photo, the driving lanes of U.S. Highway 281 north of Aberdeen, S.D., near Aberdeen Health and Rehab, were hard to see in the morning as high winds and blowing snow created blizzard and near white out conditions. (John Davis/Aberdeen American News via AP)
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In this Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, photo, blowing snow moves over the roadway near the bridge on the U.S. Highway 281 bypass as blizzard and near white out conditions made travel in and around Aberdeen, S.D., difficult at times. (John Davis/Aberdeen American News via AP)
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In this Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, photo, a pair of pedestrians make their way across campus at Northern State University in blowing snow in the morning, in Aberdeen, S.D. A wind chill warning is in effect Thursday for northeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota. (John Davis/Aberdeen American News via AP)
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Jared Borowicz, left, and others wait for a bus in bitter cold subzero temperatures and wind chills in St. Paul, Minn. on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Jean Pieri/Pioneer Press via AP)
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Miyoshi Bradford is bundled up for bitter cold subzero temperatures and wind chills as she waits for a bus in St. Paul, Minn. to take her to her nursing job on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Jean Pieri/Pioneer Press via AP)
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People walking through Chinatown, near West Cermak and South Wentworth, brave snowfall and temperatures that plummeted to the teens, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020 in Chicago. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
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CORRECTS TO BRYON HOULGRAVE INSTEAD OF BRIAN HOULGRAVE A dog watches from a vehicle window on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa, as temperatures reached sub-zero. The freeze isn't expected to last long, as temperatures in central Iowa will reach the 40s by the weekend. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP)
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A sun dog forms over the Iowa State Capitol grounds in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Temperatures plummeted below zero overnight with a windchill of -30. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP)
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Pedestrians bundle up as they face sub-zero temperatures in Des Moines on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. The freeze won't last long, however, the temperature in central Iowa will reach the 40s by this weekend. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP)
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A man clears snow from his driveway of his house in Wheeling, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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A man cleans the snow off of his car in Wheeling, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Temps are falling into single digits in the evening and bottom- out at zero or below early Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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A man cleans the snow off of his car in Wheeling, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Temps are falling into single digits in the evening and bottom- out at zero or below early Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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A man shovels the sidewalk of his house in Wheeling, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Temps are falling into single digits in the evening and bottom- out at zero or below early Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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A pedestrian waits for a bus at a stop in Prospect Heights, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Temps are falling into single digits in the evening and bottom- out at zero or below early Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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