'Polar vortex' chills Chicago to the bone

They say the cold off Lake Michigan can be pretty brutal, but this is ridiculous.

Chicago, known as the City of Big Shoulders, needs to cover those shoulders with heavy coats, scarves and layers as the temperature around 8:30 pm Midwest time on Tuesday stood at minus-3 degrees Fahrenheit (-19 Celsius).

Throw in those lake-effect gusts, and the wind chill factor was minus-25 on Tuesday, according to weather.com. That cold arrived after 13 straight days of snowfall around the city.

Forecasters stated that the cold could break the record for the lowest temperature that Chicago has ever recorded: 27 degrees below zero at O'Hare International Airport in 1985.

Local television pictures showed the Chicago River and Lake Michigan filled with chunks of ice.