https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6651663/At-12-people-died-including-Iowa-student-polar-vortex-wreaks-havoc-Midwest.htmlThe deadly polar vortex wreaking havoc across the United States has left at least 12 people dead, including a college student who was found in the freezing cold at the University of Iowa.
Authorities said the body of Gerald Belz was found behind an academic hall just before 3am on Wednesday by campus police.
The 18-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. While officials believe his death was related to dangerously low temperatures at the time he was found, officials have not given a specific cause of death.
The National Weather Service says the wind chill around 3am was negative 51F degrees.
Belz's family said their son was studying pre-med and that he had just graduated last May from Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School. His family told KCRG that doctors did not find alcohol in his system.
The painfully cold weather system that put much of the Midwest into a historic deep freeze is set to linger on Thursday but it is pushing east and losing much of its bite.
Temperatures plunged to -42F on Wednesday in parts of the Midwest and is set to linger on Thursday, but the polar vortex is now pushing east and forecast to lose much of its bite.
The cold halted postal services across the Midwest and led to 2,000 flights being canceled on Thursday.
It has also caused at least a dozen deaths since Saturday with some dying in weather-related traffic accidents and others from freezing to death due to apparent exposure to the cold.