Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin were being hit head-on by the polar vortex Wednesday morning with wind chills hitting in the minus 50sin some areas.
In Milwaukee, the temperature dipped to minus 20 degrees about 7 a.m. and the wind chill was minus 47. By 11:30 a.m. temp had risen to -16 with a wind chill of -43.
Wind chills hit minus 58 in Darlington in southwestern Wisconsin, minus 56 in Wautoma, minus 53 in Sheboygan and Port Washington, minus 52 in Waukesha and minus 47 at Timmerman Field in Milwaukee early Wednesday, accordingto the National Weather Service.
The wind chill warning continues through noon Thursday and cancelations for tomorrow are mounting. Milwaukee Public Schools and West Allis-West Milwaukee have already canceled.
As of noon, the area seemed to be coping with the brutal cold, but there were issues.
There were sporadic power outages andwater main breaks and the interstates were littered with disabled vehicles.
There were still 920 We Energies customers without power as ofnoon.
Water main breaks were reported in Wauwatosa, South Milwaukee and Cudahy and firefighters were battling a house fire in Menomonee Falls.
Thermometers began dropping Tuesday on their way to the dangerously low temperatures and the National Weather Service in Sullivan issued itsfirst wind chill warning in five years. Schools, businesses and governments announced closuresand folks prepared to limit their exposure to the outdoors.
The extreme weather prompted the U.S. Postal Service to take the rare step of halting mail delivery on Wednesday. It saidit would suspend mail deliveryin parts or all of several Midwest states including Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Post Offices will remain open to offer retail services.
The Milwaukee Department of Public Works was investigating possible water main breaks on Water Street and Forest Home Avenue, spokesman Brian DeNeve said.
"Other crews are investigating several possible leaks or frozen water services at customer properties," he said in an email.
"This is roughly the same amount of activity we’ve seen all week and we are not trending upward at this time. We may possibly see an uptick when temperatures warm."
Customers with concerns about city water service can call a 24-hour hotline at (414) 286-3710.
Amtrak, airports affected
And Amtrak said short-distance corridor trains and long-distance overnight trainsto and from Chicago were canceled on Wednesday.Short-distance services are also canceled on Thursday and most long-distance services to or from Chicago are also not expected run on Thursday, Amtrak said in a news release.
So far on Wednesday, 63 flights into and out of Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee have been canceled, according to flight tracking website flightaware.com.
Southwest Airlines, the market share leader at Mitchell, has canceled 599 flights across its system on Wednesday.
Still, a handful of flights out of Mitchell were departing on time Wednesday morning.
When it's this cold, keeping ground maintenance equipment such as belt loaders, tugs and pushback trucks up and running is a major challenge for airlines.
Further south, nearly 1,200 flights into and out ofChicago's O'Hare International have been canceled, according to flightaware.com. Nearly half the flights originating from O'Hare have been canceled.
At Chicago Midway, nearly two-thirds of the originating flights have been canceled.
How bad is it?Even the large Ice Castles complex in Lake Geneva is closedWednesday.
Cold weather emergency
The City of Milwaukee declared a cold weather emergency, Milwaukee Public Schools closed on Wednesday along with dozens of other school districts andMilwaukee County closed, which means the zoo, museum and courthouses are shut on Wednesday and Thursday.
Gov. Tony Evers declared astate of emergency closing most state government offices on Wednesday except foremergency response, public health, and public safety workers. The Capitol building in Madison will remain open.
"This is going to hit us right in the kisser," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Tuesday morning. "Safeguarding life and safety are our No. 1 priority."
The hourly forecast called for Wednesday's lows to be reached at 9 a.m. at -21 with a -48 wind chill.
Thewarmestwe get today, according to the forecast, is -10 at 3 p.m. with a wind chill of -32.
On Thursday, the high is predicted at -2.
A check of Wisconsin Department of Transportation cameras showed light traffic on area freeways and roads, with no closures or delays.
The weather service Wednesday morning tweeted an image showing the impact that the cold has had on Lake Michigan.
"There has been a rapid expansion of ice in the nearshore waters of Lake Michigan the last several days," the weather service said. "The ice will continue to expand the rest of the week due to the persistent frigid cold."
In Crivitz, atown north of Green Bay, firefighters on Tuesday night battled both a blaze at a longtime business and subzero temperatures.
Crivitz Lumber and Rental, a 99-year-old business,is considered a total loss after the fire, whichbroke out about 7 p.m., according to the Crivitz Fire Department.Multiple fire departments helped battle the blaze in wind chills that fell as low as 30 below.
Firefighters also battled house fires and the cold in Lisbon, in Waukesha County, where an 86-year-old man was rescued from his bedroom Tuesday night, in Racine early Wednesday morning that injured a man and in Franklin in theat 8500 block of South116th Street. The 86-year-old was in critical condition at a hospital.
RELATED:Fire crews battle dangerous wind chills to put out fire at Crivitz Lumber and Rental
RELATED:An 86-year-old man in critical condition after Lisbon house fire. A sheriff's deputy also suffered smoke inhalation
Tuesday started out with wind chills of minus 20 to minus 35, and black ice on highways and the interstate caused numerous accidents, snarling the morning commutetraffic.
And, according to the state Department of Transportation, I-43 has slippery conditions Wednesday morning.
Black ice is actually clear ice over dark pavement and often fools motorists who think they're driving on wet roads instead of glare ice, said Jim Hughes, the state Department of Transportation's chief highway maintenance engineer.
Salt laid down by crews during Monday'sstorm likely blew away in stiff winds that created blowing and drifting snow. And because salt doesn't melt ice when temperatures drop to 10 or 15 degrees, it's too late now to use road salt to melt black ice, said Hughes.
Some communities are using liquid brine in temperatures too low for salt, but not every county can do that.
So DOT officials tried to get the word out to drivers to slow down, particularly in areas where black ice is likely to accumulate — intersections, bridges, underpasses and shaded areas where the sun can't melt ice.
It's rare for the National Weather Service to issue a wind chill warning, which isannounced when wind chills plummet to minus 35 or lower. The last time the forecasters that handlesouthern Wisconsin put out a wind chill warning was in January 2014.
Back in 2014, the polar vortex dropped Wisconsin into a deep freeze. Now the polar vortex is back and it's funneling extremely cold air from the North Pole right into Wisconsin.
"It's going to be brutal," said Andy Boxell, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Sullivan. Wednesday "will likely not get above minus 10 for temperatures during the day and Wednesday night will be even colder."
The wind chill warning is in effectthrough noon Thursday throughout Wisconsin.
RELATED:Bitterly cold, once-in-a-generation temperatures expected in Wisconsin this week
RELATED:Cold forces school cancellations across southeastern Wisconsin; often it's a 'no-win' call for districts
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The reason wind chill warnings are rare in southern Wisconsin is because very cold temperatures are not often paired with strong winds. Subzero temperatures are usually caused by a big area of Arctic pressure and because of that high pressure, winds are usually light or calm,Boxell said.
"This isn't just a north breeze, it's gusts of 25 to 35 mph. That, in itself, doesn't happen all that often," Boxell said. "For all those things to line up together is unusual."
Barrett saidall services in Milwaukee will be suspended Wednesday with the exception of police, fire and repair of water main breaks.The top priority, Barrett said, was the safety of city workers and residents.
People in need of emergency shelters should call 211 to be connected with facilities with available beds, Barrett said.
Barretturged residents to minimize the time spent outdoors Wednesday and wear appropriate outdoor clothing, including scarves. People should be aware of the symptoms of frostbite and hypothermia and make sure tostay hydrated.
Residents should use appropriate indoor heating devices and never try to heat their homes with outdoor devices such as grills, he said.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele also declared a winter weather emergency for county employeesthrough 6 p.m. Thursday.
That means Milwaukee County circuit courts and county government will be closedWednesday and Thursday.
"We do not make decisions like this lightly, and we look at every possible option when we are considering closure,” Abele said in a statement. “But the fact is that the weather in the next two days creates dangerous conditions for people to be outside."
The good news is that once we get through Wednesday and Thursday, warmer weather is in the forecast.
Friday's high temperatures are expected to be in the high teens, followed by 30s on Saturday and possibly nearing 40 degrees in southeastern Wisconsin on Sunday. There's also a chance for precipitation this weekend, which could be a rain/snow mix or rain.
That's right — rain is possible this weekend.
"It will be a little bit of a roller coaster," said Boxell. "It will seem lovely, with highs in the teens on Friday. Which is still below normal, but it will feel a lot more reasonable."
Mary Spicuzza and Joe Taschler of the Journal Sentinel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
