A merciless cold crippled the Midwest on Wednesday, halting planes and trains, shuttering schools and prompting officials in Detroit, Minneapolis and Chicago to open emergency warming centres for the homeless and vulnerable.

The bitter weather was believed to be tied to the deaths of at least eight people, including a man thought to have collapsed after shovelling snow and frozen to death in his Milwaukee garage. Hospitals saw a steady stream of patients reporting symptoms of frostbite.

Temperatures in Minneapolis dipped as low as -28 degrees Fahrenheit (-33 degrees Celsius), with the wind chill reaching -53 degrees Fahrenheit (-47 degrees Celsius), the National Weather Service said.

Fargo, North Dakota, reached -33 degrees Fahrenheit (-36 degrees Celsius); Milwaukee, -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-28 degrees Celsius). The worst of the cold was feared overnight into Thursday, when meteorologists predicted that temperatures could dip to -27 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 degrees Celsius) in Chicago, a record for the city. The Midwest was expected to see miserable temperatures till Thursday, and the cold air was moving east.

Across the Midwest on Wednesday, residents who are used to carrying on with life’s routines despite bad weather had little choice but to shiver, stay indoors and make the best of it, even as the insides of their windows became ominously lined with ice. Office workers were stuck at home. Parents scrambled for last-minute child care. In Michigan, a gas company asked customers to use less natural gas to heat their houses after a fire at a compressor station.

Visits with prisoners in the Stearns County, Minnesota, jail were cancelled. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, garbage and recycling collection was delayed. In Wisconsin, the unthinkable: Distributors grounded their trucks, fearing that the beer would freeze solid.

Even the US Postal Service — despite its unofficial vow that couriers cannot be stopped by “snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” — was forced to suspend deliveries in some particularly frigid places.

Health officials, urging people to go outside only if necessary, warned that exposing skin to the air could lead to frostbite. They were not exaggerating: Going gloveless for only a minute or two, in double-digit negative temperatures, left hands feeling numb, then clumsy and flipper-like, then white-hot with pain.

In Chicago, what would normally be a bustling day slowed to a frigid crawl. Lake Shore Drive, rather than being choked with the usual morning traffic, was leisurely.

Buses continued on their routes and “L” trains rumbled through the city, but most cars looked nearly empty. A few stray bicyclists in ski goggles and snow pants could still be seen pedalling painfully down the streets, refusing to bow to the cold.

Restaurants, museums and shops seemed to have one thing in common: a hastily placed sign on the door announcing that they were closed for the day.