Deadly Cold, Snowstorms to Hit Northern US, Midwest

The U.S. is bracing for a dangerously cold winter in the coming days.

Freezing temperatures gripped the upper Midwest this week, where forecasters put out a wind chill advisory in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin on Wednesday. 

The advisory also stretched into parts of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania and will likely be in effect through the weekend. 

These areas are also expected to get a blast of snow in the next coming days. 

The extreme cold weather already claimed the life of a 34-year-old woman, who died of hypothermia in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was found on Monday when the temperatures dropped to three below zero and wind chills were minus 19. 

Low temperatures in Fargo, North Dakota, were expected to be minus 12 on Thursday, and Duluth, Minnesota, may experience an overnight low of minus five. 

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he would activate the state's severe cold-weather protocol on Thursday and called for state police and other agencies to help shelters and community groups to protect residents. 

Safety public officials warned people to limit their time outside Thursday and Friday. Some government offices are closing early in upstate New York, which is expecting one to two feet of snow. 

The arctic air will remain over the northern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service. 

Widespread snow is expected from the Great Lakes to the Northeast on Thursday and the Climate Prediction Center forecast below normal temperatures this weekend across the entire northern half of the country, from the Pacific Northwest to Maine and from Oklahoma to Arkansas and Virginia.