In US, people are throwing boiling water into the air. Here is why

NEW DELHI: It's so cold in the United States Midwest that boiling water is freezing instantly and people are taking to social media to throw boiling water in the air to make steam in below-zero temperature.

The frigid weather paralysed a large swath of the United States this week and caused at least 21 deaths. Meteorologists linked the spell of brutal cold to the so-called polar vortex, a cap of icy air that usually swirls over the North Pole. Changing air currents caused it to slip down through Canada and into the US Midwest this week.

Even during the deadly, sub-zero temperatures, people are uploading videos showing them throw boiling water into the freezing air where it instantly turns into a cloud of flakes.

Taking boiling water in mugs or cans, people, in a bid to show how cold it is, are stepping outside and posting videos on Twitter to show how the water freezes as soon as you throw it in the air. If done in a correct way, the boiling water blooms into a white cloud as it hits the air.

Hundreds of such videos have been posted on Twitter and Facebook.









Temperatures in the Upper Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, will reach well above zero F (minus 18C), with highs making it into the teens and low 20s.

Even so, parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa were still experiencing temperatures in the negative single digit.

The lowest temperature recorded early Friday morning was minus 34 Fahrenheit (minus 36 Celsius) in Stonington, Michigan, according to the National Weather Service.

Schools and businesses remained closed in several midwestern states, people were encouraged to stay home, and travelers were stranded by grounded flights and halted trains.

(With agency inputs)