SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — It has been decades since parts of the Midwest experienced a deep freeze like the one expected to arrive Sunday, with potential record-low temperatures heightening fears of frostbite and hypothermia — even in a region where bundling up is second nature.

This “polar vortex,” as one meteorologist calls it, is caused by a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air. The frigid air, piled up at the North Pole, will be pushed down to the U.S., funneling it as far south as the Gulf Coast.

Ryan Maue, of Tallahassee, Fla., a meteorologist for Weather Bell, said records will likely be broken during the short yet forceful deep freeze — a perfect combination of the jet stream, cold surface temperatures and the polar vortex — that will begin Sunday and extend into early next week. All the ingredients are there for a near-record or historic cold outbreak,” he said “If you’re under 40 (years old), you’ve not seen this stuff before.”

Before the polar plunge, Saturday marked the day Earth is the closest it gets to the sun each year. The planet orbits the sun in an oval and on average is about 93 million miles away. But every January, Earth is at perihelion, and on Saturday, it was only 91.4 million miles from the sun.

But that proximity doesn’t affect the planet’s temperatures, and the predictions are startling: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. At those temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can quickly set in as wind chills may reach 50, 60 or even 70 below zero.

Even wind chills of 25 below zero can do serious damage, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Truett in St. Louis.

“Those are dangerous levels of wind chill,” he said of the expected wind chill in Missouri at daybreak Monday. “A person not properly dressed could die easily in those conditions.”

The cold will sweep through parts of New England, too, where residents are digging out from a snowstorm. And fresh powder is expected in parts of the central Midwest and South starting Saturday night — up to a foot in eastern Missouri, 6 to 8 inches in central Illinois, 8 or more inches in western Kentucky and a half-foot to a foot in southwestern Michigan.

Snow will reduce the sun’s heating effect, so nighttime lows will plummet because of strong northwest winds that will deliver the Arctic blast, Maue said. There’s no warming effect from the Gulf to counteract the cold air, he said.

Even places accustomed to mild and warmer winters will be affected early next week, including Atlanta where Tuesday’s high is expected to hover in the mid-20s.

Sunday’s NFL playoff game in Green Bay could be among one of the coldest ever played — a frigid minus 2 degrees when the Packers and San Francisco 49ers kickoff at Lambeau Field. And ice skaters in Des Moines, Iowa, won’t be able to use an outdoor rink, as officials decided to shut it down Sunday and Monday.

States are trying to get ahead of the storm, with Minnesota calling off school Monday for the entire state — the first such closing in 17 years — as well as the Wisconsin cities of Milwaukee and Madison.

Though this cold spell will last just a few days, it likely will freeze over the Great Lakes and other bodies of water, meaning frigid temperatures probably won’t go away for the rest of the winter, Maue said. He also noted that it’s relatively uncommon to have such frigid air blanket so much of the U.S., maybe once a decade or every couple of decades.

But so far, this winter is proving to be a cold one.

“Right now for the winter, we will have had two significant shots of major Arctic air and we’re only through the first week of January. And we had a pretty cold December,” Maue said.

A winter storm dumped snow from the Midwest to New England and brought along teeth-chattering temperatures was blamed for at least 16 deaths. Freezing temperatures with below-zero wind chills in some places complicated life for residents from Minnesota to Maine and more cold blasts were in the forecast for the weekend and Monday.

 

Connecticut

A 22-year-old man was fatally injured in one of more than 200 weather-related accidents reported in the state. Much of the state received 4 to 8 inches of snow.

 

Delaware

Transportation officials asked people to stay home Friday as total snowfall reached 7 inches in some areas.

 

District of Columbia

Offices of the federal government and the District of Columbia were open Friday, but workers were given the option to take leave or work from home after more than 2 inches of snow fell.

 

Illinois

Nearly 17 inches of snow fell Thursday in some of Chicago’s northern suburbs, and more than 12 inches of snow was recorded at Midway International Airport. The weather was blamed for two deaths, including a man who died in southern Illinois after having a heart attack while clearing snow. The National Weather Service said Chicago-area wind chills Monday and Tuesday could sink to 45 below zero.

 

Indiana

Two deaths were blamed on the weather. Indianapolis’ mayor urged residents to stock up on supplies in advance of more heavy snows and sub-zero readings. Fort Wayne set a record low Friday morning at minus-10 degrees.

 

Kentucky

Slicks roads caused dozens of wrecks, and weather-related accidents were blamed for two deaths.

 

Maine

Maine was spared the brunt of the snow, but residents suffered from sub-zero temperatures with wind chills making it feel like 35 degrees below zero in some places. Temperatures will gradually warm up into the 20s by Saturday afternoon.

 

Maryland

Up to 7 inches of snow fell north of Baltimore on Friday. State officials restricted traffic on several bridges, including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, after reports of sustained winds exceeding 50 mph Friday morning.

 

Massachusetts

Snow totals of nearly 2 feet of snow in some areas and wind chills well below zero were reported Friday. The National Weather Service said the temperature in Boston was 2 degrees Friday morning but felt like 20-below. Boston had more than 13 inches of snow, with higher amounts north of the city, including 23.8 inches in Boxford. Coastal flooding damaged homes in Scituate.

 

Michigan

Three days of snow and bitter cold left the Detroit area under almost a foot of snow. More snow is expected late Saturday and Sunday. And colder weather is forecast for Monday. Officials blamed one death on the weather.

 

Minnesota

Minnesota’s governor called off all public school classes Monday because of another cold blast in the forecast. Police said the cold contributed to the death of a 79-year-old man who fell outside his home in New Ulm, where temperatures dropped down to minus-18 degrees.

 

New Hampshire

A deep freeze stayed in place with temperatures in the single digits to below zero and wind chill readings ranging from minus-15 to minus-35. Snow accumulations ranged from about 7 through 11 inches and numerous schools remained closed for a second straight day.

 

New Jersey

New Jersey schools, government offices and businesses closed Friday after more than 10 inches of snow accumulated in some places. A New Jersey Transit bus slid backward down an icy hill in Paterson and crashed into a carpet store. The driver, the only person on the bus, had minor injuries. More than one-fourth of Friday’s outgoing flights at Newark Liberty Airport were canceled.

 

New York

New York City, where 6 to 11 inches of snow was recorded, urged the homeless to find shelter as single-digit temperatures followed the storm. Flights out of John F. Kennedy Airport were suspended for a time Friday because of winds and visibility. A woman with Alzheimer’s disease froze to death after wandering away from her rural western New York home and two other deaths were also blamed on the weather.

 

North Carolina

Three Appalachian Trail hikers were hospitalized Friday after being stranded overnight in the snow without shelter. Wind chills were near 20 degrees below zero and snow drifts were up to 2 feet high.

 

Ohio

Some of the coldest temperatures in the state in years were recorded Friday, but it’s expected to be even colder in the next few days. Authorities say at least two people were killed in weather-related crashes in northeast Ohio on Thursday as the storm dumped up to 10 inches of snow around Cleveland and Toledo.

 

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh’s mayor-elect moved his Monday inauguration ceremony indoors because of temperatures forecast between the teens and minus-10. Authorities said a worker at a suburban Philadelphia road salt storage facility died Thursday when a 100-foot-tall pile of salt fell and crushed him on a backhoe.

 

Rhode Island

Most schools were closed due to snow and single-digit temperatures and winds that made it feel like minus-20 overnight in Warwick. Communities across the state opened warming centers at libraries, senior centers and other buildings.

 

Vermont

Low temperatures — minus-8 in Burlington — and a foot or more of snow made for ideal ski and snowmobile conditions. A wind chill of 29 below was recording in Burlington.

 

West Virginia

Highs only in the teens prompted many schools to close or open late as some areas in the eastern part of the state received up to 6 inches of snow.

 

Wisconsin

A man found on a sidewalk outside his Milwaukee home Friday died of hypothermia resulting from bitterly cold temperatures. The man’s core body temperature was 45 degrees, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. Milwaukee officials planned to close non-essential services Monday because of expected dangerously cold temperatures.