Large Lake Michigan waves crash against the lakefront, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, causing erosion and ice formation near East 72th Street in Chicago. (Victor Hilitski/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Bitterly cold temperatures persisted from the Northern Plains to parts of the Great Lakes and northern New England, with schools in some Upper Midwest communities canceling classes for a second day Friday.
The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory for parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri on Friday and several New England states. Wind chill readings in northern Minnesota dropped to about 30 degrees below zero (minus 34 Celsius) early Friday as the coldest air of the season lingered.
In Minnesota and elsewhere, warming shelters were filled beyond capacity. Outreach workers and law enforcement hit the streets to make sure those without a home were safe.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchison was among those checking on those living on the streets Thursday night.
"Our goal, Minneapolis, everybody's goal is to make sure we don't have any fatalities," Hutchinson told KMSP-TV. The sheriff and outreach workers directed the homeless to shelters and passed out winter gear.
In Omaha, Nebraska, the death of an 80-year-old man may be attributed to the cold. Police found the body of Robert Freymuller on Thursday near 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 the time.
The National Weather Service expected the dangerously cold airmass to give way to more moderate temperatures over the weekend.
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 bicycle is covered in a thick layer of ice near East 73th Street in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (Victor Hilitski/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
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Large Lake Michigan waves crash against the lakefront, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, causing erosion and ice formation near East 72th Street in Chicago. (Victor Hilitski/Chicago Sun-Times 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 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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Natalie Lewis, 5, helps her father, Andrew Lewis, dig out from a snowfall in Auburn, Maine, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. The pre-kindergarten student at Walton Elementary School had the day to help since school was canceled for her sixth snow day of the school year. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal via AP)
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Natalie Lewis, 5, helps her father, Andrew Lewis, and mother, Cassandra Lewis, dig out from a snowfall in Auburn, Maine, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. The pre-kindergarten student at Walton Elementary School had the day to help since school was canceled for her sixth snow day of the school year. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal 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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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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