Much of the United States continues to be gripped by extreme cold weather. The cold snap has broken century-old records and led to at least three deaths, as the year 2018 began on Monday.

Dangerously low temperatures enveloped much of the Midwest. In Des Moines, Iowa, the temperature hit minus-29 degrees celsius early on Monday. City officials closed a downtown outdoor ice skating plaza and said it will not reopen until the city emerges from sub-zero temperatures. The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada, and from Montana and Wyoming to New England.