Arctic blast closes schools, contributes to heavy snowfall from northern Plains to Northeast

(AP) – A bone-chilling cold wave with temperatures as low as 42 below zero shut down schools for thousands of youngsters Monday, sent homeless people into shelters and put car batteries on the disabled list from the northern Plains across the Great Lakes.

At least five deaths were linked to the cold weather.

With a temperature of 12 below zero and wind chill of 31 below, Wisconsin's largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools, shut down, idling some 90,000 children. Schools also closed in parts of Michigan and Illinois.

A few schools closed even in Minnesota, where February cold is the norm and people are accustomed to coping.

Hayward, Wis., fell to 27 below, and wind chills around the state dipped to nearly 40 below.

The weather service said that Tuesday morning temperatures across Wisconsin would range from 15 below to 25 below.

The cold contributed to two weekend deaths in Kentucky: an elderly man who wandered away from his home Sunday and a motorist whose car slid on ice and overturned in a river, authorities said.

An 8-year-old girl and her mother were killed in a wreck on an icy road in Michigan, state police said.

The body of a 47-year-old man was found outdoors in Ravenna, Ohio, and police said drunkenness contributed to his death.