Deep freeze: US northeast braces for record breaking wind chills

Nearly 100 million people in Canada and the US brace for some of the coldest air on earth, as a record-breaking deep freeze hits North America.

The frigid blast could bring "once-in-a-generation" wind chills that cause frostbite in less than 10 minutes, the National Weather Service has warned.

Residents from Manitoba to Maine are being urged to limit their time outdoors through Friday and today.

At least 11 people have died in the bad weather in the US south since Monday.

There were eight fatalities in Texas, two in Oklahoma and one in Arkansas.

The expected drop in temperatures is attributed to a powerful Arctic front that stretches from the Canadian maritime provinces to the core of the US.

About a dozen records are expected to be broken by Friday afternoon in several US states, where a total of 82 million people will face temperatures of -17 Celsius (0 F) or lower.

Parts of Canada are expecting temperatures anywhere between -38 C to - 50 C (-36.4 F to -58 F). An extreme cold advisory issued by Environment Canada on Friday morning has blanketed the Maritimes, most of Quebec and all of Ontario, spilling into Manitoba.

The brutal winter weather follows this week's deadly ice storm in parts of Texas, where temperatures have begun to climb above freezing, and ice was expected to melt on Friday.

(Excerpt from BBC News)