BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The frigid arctic air blanketing parts of the Midwest is setting records in the Dakotas.
The National Weather Service says that Devils Lake, North Dakota, set a record low for the date Wednesday, at minus 36 degrees (negative 38 degrees Celsius).
Weather service reports show that at least a dozen South Dakota cities broke or tied their record-low temperature for the date Wednesday. Britton was the coldest, at minus 40 degrees (negative 40 degrees Celsius).
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Some of the previous South Dakota records were set about a century ago. The town of Webster broke a record that was set in 1893.
The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to plunge much farther south than normal.
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