Residents from the Dakotas to the East Coast are bundling up Wednesday as extreme cold temperatures grip a third of the country. Wind chill advisories have been posted in 15 states.
"I don't want to go out of the house," one Minneapolis resident said.
"It is like needles sticking in your face," Chicago resident Colleen Isaac said.
On Tuesday, the wind chill in Maine brought temperatures to 50 below. Around the Great Lakes it was minus 40, and in North Carolina 10 below.
Experts warn the freezing temperatures are more than just uncomfortable. They can be dangerous.
The extreme cold is already being blamed for at least four deaths. Blinding snow caused a 150-car pileup in Ohio. People working outside, like construction workers, are also at risk of hypothermia or frost bite.
"Pretty quickly you can start to experience symptoms of frostbite, within five to 10 minutes of being outside," West Penn Hospital's Dr. Chadd Nesbit said.
Even inside the cold temperatures can make life uncomfortable.
"All the cold air from outside came in and it got cold enough overnight with the low temperatures and it simply froze the water service in the house," Bob Cushman, with Dan Wood Plumbing & Heating, said.
The pipes in Kacee Roberts' Michigan home froze overnight.
"You can't do anything pretty much," she said. "You go to wash your hands and you can't even do that. No coffee. No toilet. You can't flush the toilet."
Meteorologists predict the weather is likely to get worse, with even colder conditions coming in by the end of the week.
"This air mass that has set in from The Plains all the way to the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast has some of the coldest air we've seen in at least couple of years," AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
Temperatures across the Midwest and Northeast are expected to remain below freezing until at least the weekend.
Meanwhile, doctors warn that the cold temperatures could make this year's dire flu season even worse. With people are stuck inside, those germs are more likely to spread to others.