MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Dangerously cold temperatures gripped the Upper Midwest ahead of a storm that's expected to bring heavy snow in coming days, while schools and officials in the Northeast braced for their own wintry blast.

Many areas from North Dakota to Pennsylvania are under a wind chill advisory Thursday.

The National Weather Service said that in western Wisconsin, Thursday morning's wind chills could get as low as minus 30.

The cold has claimed at least one life: A 34-year-old woman died of hypothermia in St. Paul. She was found Monday, when temperatures dropped to 3 below zero and wind chills were minus 19.

Officials in Connecticut, Vermont and New York were also bracing for an arctic blast.

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