They say neither snow nor rain nor heat stop postal workers from doing their jobs, BUT the freeze is keeping mail from getting delivered in at least 10 states. Thousands of flights and trains have been impacted. More than 1300 flights have been canceled in Chicago alone. Hundreds of schools have also shutdown. If that doesn’t illustrate how bad this deep freeze is, perhaps this will help.

Let’s put it this way, it’s colder than Antarctica in several cities. The National Weather Service says:

A record arctic air mass will remain over the central and eastern U.S. over the next several days. Wind chill values of 30 to 60 degrees below zero will be common across the northern Plains, Great Lakes, and upper Midwest.

Accuweather writes:

Long-standing records are poised to fall as the polar vortex sends extremely cold air into midwestern and northeastern United States to end January.

States of emergency have been issued in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan due to the extreme cold with many schools and businesses closing until the frigid air loosens its grip on the region later this week.

Minneapolis could break low temperature records originally set back in the 1800s, and Chicago could challenge its all-time record low of minus 27 F, set on Jan. 20, 1985.

The Associated Press adds:

The cold is attributed to a sudden warming far above the North Pole. A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

One of those polar vortex pieces is responsible for the subzero temperatures across the Midwest this week.

Here are some scenes from areas being impacted.