Residents of the Midwestern United States on Sunday braced for the coldest weather in two decades, temperatures that forecasters warned would be life-threatening.

A person struggles to cross a street in blowing and falling snow Sunday 5th 2014 in St Lious.

Icy conditions snarled travel across the region and thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, some officials preemptively closed schools, and at a New York City airport a plane skidded off a runway into snow days after the Northeast was hammered by the first winter storm of the season.

"The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central U.S. today behind an arctic cold front," the National Weather Service said in an advisory posted on its website on Sunday. "Combined with gusty winds, these temperatures will result in life-threatening wind chill values as low as 60 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit/ -51 Celsius)."

In weather that cold, frostbite can set in on uncovered skin in a matter of minutes, experts warned.

Source: Yahoo news