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Chicago is expected to be colder than Mount Everest base camp

Deadly polar vortex hits Midwest
Record-breaking lows hit the Midwest 02:47

Chicago is set to experience one of its coldest days on record, with the high temperature expected to be 12 degrees below zero on Wednesday, CBS Chicago reports. That would make it colder than some of the most frigid places on Earth.

At its lowest, the temperature in Chicago is expected to plunge to 21 below zero at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, according to Weather Underground. That'll feel like 48 below zero with the windchill.

While Chicago freezes, the South Pole is expected to reach a high temperature of 4 below zero on Wednesday, CBS Chicago reports. And the northernmost point in the United States — Barrow, Alaska — will be 7 below zero.

That's right, a city that is located above the Arctic Circle is expected to be warmer than Chicago. 

There is no weather station at the top of Mount Everest. But by Tuesday afternoon Chicago time, it was already Wednesday in Khumjung, Nepal, where Mount Everest base camp is located. The temperature there felt like 9 degrees, according to Weather Underground. That's still not as cold as Chicago is supposed to be Wednesday.

Some other locations expected to be warmer than Chicago:

• Zackenberg, Greenland: -11 degrees
• Barrow, Alaska: -7 degrees
• Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada: -5 degrees
• Old Crow, Yukon Territory, Canada degrees
• Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station: -4 degrees
• Upernavik, Greenland: -3 degrees
• Ottawa, Canada: 9 degrees
• Murmansk, Russia: 10 degrees
• Fairbanks, Alaska: 13 degrees
• Irktusk, Russia: 16 degrees
• Nome, Alaska: 20 degrees
• Oslo, Norway: 23 degrees
• Stockholm, Sweden: 24 degrees
• Reykjavik, Iceland: 25 degrees
• Mount Everest Base Camp, Khumjung, Nepal: 30 degrees
• Edmonton, Canada: 33 degrees
• Helsinki, Finland: 33 degrees
• Copenhagen, Denmark, 35 degrees
• Vladivostok: Russia: 37 degrees

A high temperature of 12 below zero would be the coldest high temperature ever recorded in Chicago. It has been 11 below zero twice before — in 1994 and 1983, CBS Chicago reports.

The temperature on Wednesday could also prove to be the lowest temperature ever recorded Jan. 30 in the city. The record low for that date now stands at 15 below zero, set in 1966.

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