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Minnesota Braces For Extreme Cold

By Lindsey Seavert, WCCO-TV

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Thursday night, the temperatures in Minnesota began dropping to unbearable levels and schools across the state were already canceling classes for Friday morning.

In Minneapolis, the afternoon sun and arctic wind turned Lake Calhoun into a snowy Sahara late Thursday.

There Kevin Spotts was the only person in sight, alone on his cross country skis, soaking in the last few moments of single digit temperatures.

While he enjoyed the cold weather, far more people searched for an escape. On the coldest of days, the Corepower Yoga studio in Uptown expects crowds.

"We love it, people come in and say it's so cold outside, we can't wait to get into the studio," said hot yoga instructor Emilia Mettenbrink.

Here heated yoga classes range anywhere between upper 90 degrees all the way to 105 degrees. Thursday night, the class hovered at exactly 100.

"When you are outside in the cold you are crunching your shoulders, everything is tight," said Mettenbrink. "Come to the yoga studio, relax it out, and find out how tall you are again, we forget in the winter I think!"

Over at the US Pond Hockey championships on Lake Nokomis, kids seemed invincible on the ice, but parents shivered on the sidelines with their own goal - keeping their kids warm.

Parent David Overman said the Minneapolis Storm, a team of 8 and 9 year olds, couldn't wait to get on the ice, but the parents – "weren't too excited about it, but we're hanging in there," Overman joked.

Minneapolis Public Schools sent messages to parents Thursday night. The district said parents that opt to keep their kids home due to the extreme temperatures should know it will be counted as an excused absence. The Anoka-Hennepin School District has the same policy.

Regions Hospital offers some tips for keeping you and your kids warm.

1. Dress in layers, and remember wool is the only fabric that keeps you warm when it is wet.
2. Cover your head and your hands, where a large amount of body heat is lost.
3. Eat health and stay active. Digesting food can create body heat along with keeping your body in motion.
4. Watch out for the three stages of frostbite – redness of skin, pain, and a stinging sensation.

Numbness soon sets in and the most dangerous stage in when tissue begins to freeze. Slowly warm the affected areas with warm water. Remember not to rub the skin and get out of the cold as soon as possible.

Watch Chris Shaffer's 10 P.M. Weather Forecast

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