How Cold Is It? It's So Cold ...

By Mark Memmott

Published January 23, 2013 at 6:45 AM CST

Julie Caruso of Akron, Ohio, was wrapped up Tuesday as she waited in line for a White House tour. It was well below freezing in the nation's capital. Temperatures were even lower in other parts of the nation.

As Mom would say, bundle up. If you go outside today just about anywhere from North Dakota east and south through the upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and up into New England, it's freezing.

The frigid temperatures we wrote about Tuesday continue. They're making headlines in Minneapolis, in Cleveland, in Buffalo and many other places. There was a reading of -35 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday at Crane Lake, Minn. The wind chill plunged to -42 degrees in Ironwood, Mich.

There isn't much relief expected until the weekend. Our friends at Minnesota Public Radio, for instance, say it could "warm" up all the way to 30 degrees in their region "by Sunday or Monday." Still, the National Weather Service warns that "dangerously cold temperatures are expected to remain in place" until then for the states in the grip of this cold snap. The freezing temperatures appear to have played a role in at least four deaths so far, The Associated Press says. Two were in Illinois, one was in Minnesota and the fourth was in Wisconsin.

We asked Tuesday for answers to that class question "how cold is it." The most-liked response continues to be from commenter "Fred Flintstone," who posted a classic oldie: "It was so cold that I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets!"

Let's see if that can be topped today.

From the NPR Newscast: Jean Cochran on the cold wave

Update at 2:30 p.m. ET. Two To Note:

The most-liked response so far, as you can see in the comments thread, is from "Nathan Wu." It's a line we've seen used before, but it's a goodie: "It's so cold I saw a teenage boy with his pants pulled up!"

But we want to give a shout out to "Sir Fry" for this:

"It's so cold that the top rated comment isn't about politics."

Nicely done, sir.