CHICAGO: After days of an arctic chill so cold that a Chicago zoo brought their polar bear inside, the United States woke up to a break in the weather Wednesday.

Weather records have tumbled across North America, with freezing temperatures even in the southern US.

The most extreme arctic blasts, blamed on a weather pattern known as the polar vortex, were said to have affected nearly 190 million people, according to the BBC.

In Kentucky, an escaped prisoner turned himself in to get out of the cold.

Temperature records were shattered in states across the US, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

It was -17C in the small town of Hell, Michigan, prompting

But it was Embarrass, Minnesota, that experienced the lowest temperature on Tuesday: -37C. That was colder than readings recently recorded on the Red Planet by the Mars Rover.

The National Weather Service said “a much anticipated warm up” was expected over the eastern two-thirds of the US.

But it will still be long-underwear and scarf weather for many: the weather service predicts temperatures will be 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit below average in parts of the upper Midwest.

And every US state except sunny Florida and tropical Hawaii were forecast to dip below freezing either during the day or overnight early Thursday.

On Wednesday morning, 664 US flights had been canceled and more than 1,000 were delayed, according to FlightAware.com, a site that monitors air travel.