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St. Paul, Minn.

Minn. shivers through another day

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(AP) - Count Kim Sherva as one of those rare people who see the bright side of the Arctic blast that hit Minnesota this week.

While the thermometer read about 9 degrees below zero at lunchtime Thursday, Sherva, 38, was delivering sandwiches wrapped in five layers of clothes, a hat, fuzzy white earmuffs, gloves and purple snow boots.

"It's nice to do deliveries when it's really cold, because people tip you better," she said. She chalked it up to pity.

Glare Ice
Glare ice across the northbound stretch of Interstate 35E between downtown St. Paul and Maryland Avenue.
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation

She said the hardest part was keeping her legs warm under only a pair of jeans and long underwear while her top half got long underwear, T-shirt, a sweater and a couple of coats.

The National Weather Service said Thursday's low in Minneapolis was 21 below, which Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay said was the coldest reading since Jan. 30, 2004. In Glenwood, in western Minnesota, the temperature hit 29 below.

The cold was keeping hospitals busy in the Twin Cities.

At least 14 people were treated at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for frostbite or mild hypothermia. Regions Hospital in St. Paul also reported a case of hypothermia.

Schools in nearly 200 communities statewide closed or started late Thursday because of the dangerous readings.

The weather urged the elderly and children to stay inside and pet owners to limit outdoor activity.

Minnesota was in for another night of the bone-chilling cold. The weather service was forecasting overnight lows Thursday of 20 below in Minneapolis, 28 below in St. Cloud, 24 below in Duluth and 20 below in Moorhead.

Boulay said the lowest recorded temperature in the state during this week's cold snap was 48 below in Babbitt on Wednesday. That same day, it hit 42 below in International Falls, on the Canadian border, tying the record low for that date there.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)