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TOM: Much of the upper Midwest is in suspended animation today, because some of the coldest weather in a generation has set up. The Postal Service stopped delivering mail, service slowed on the Blue Line in Minneapolis after a rail cracked, Twin Cities hospitals are seeing a jump in frostbite cases, and a crew in White Bear Lake is busy repairing a broken water main. Matt Sepic has more on this very cold day.

MATT SEPIC: Baudette, Minnesota along the Canadian border is the place car designers go to put vehicles through the paces of a brutal winter. The company, Automotive Enviro Testing, operates a cold weather test facility there that includes a slush pool, where engineers study the effects of ice on braking and handling.

But after waking up to temperatures of minus 36 with a negative 58 wind chill, AET owner Larry Larson says he had to close the slush pool for the first time in 29 years.

LARRY LARSON: And that just wasn't real world. And so it actually became too cold to do one of our very important winter tests.

MATT SEPIC: Larson says the rest of his facility is still operating. He'll reopen the slush pool when temperatures are more reasonable, say minus 20. The arctic blast has changed the daily routines of many Minnesotans. Schools are closed. Some grocery stores are shutting their doors early tonight, and the Postal Service suspended delivery today.

[THUD, RUSTLING]

[BELL RINGING]

But other couriers still made their rounds. The Star Tribune got delivered in Minneapolis and outside City Hall this afternoon. UPS driver Brandon Peña was busy unloading some big boxes from his truck. Peña says he and his co-workers were a little late getting out the door this morning.

BRANDON PEÑA: Bosses basically told us, at any point you feel like you don't want to work, or it's too cold. You can't feel your fingers. You can't feel your nose, your face. Come back to the building. Get done what you can, but be safe.

MATT SEPIC: Also on the job today are utility workers. Xcel Energy says as many as 6,300 electricity customers, mainly in the Southwest suburbs, were without power for a time last night because of a cold weather-related outage. In the Northeast Metro crews are dealing with a water main break in White Bear Township that's covered some roads with ice.

The cold is a mere inconvenience for most, but it can be fatal to the most vulnerable Minnesotans, particularly those experiencing homelessness. In Hennepin County, service providers are coordinating overflow space at shelters.

Michelle Basham is executive director of the Bridge for Youth, which provides supportive housing for young people. Basham says all beds in their uptown Minneapolis building are full, but her team has set aside space in common areas for those with nowhere else to go.

MICHELLE BASHAM: They will be able to come in here, hang out on the couches, watch TV, and then in this room over here, we have a couple of cots here. We have more in the basement if we need them, blankets, handwarmers, mittens.

MATT SEPIC: While extreme cold has drawn attention to homelessness, Basham says it's not just a wintertime problem. On any given night in Minnesota, around 6,000 unaccompanied youth have no permanent address. And while overall homelessness has generally fallen in recent years, it has increased among those under 24.

Basham says children as young as 10 show up at her door. Kachina is 20 years old and lives in a shared apartment at the bridge. We're not using her last name to protect her privacy. Kachina fled what she calls a toxic home environment in 2017 and says teens can become homeless for any number of reasons.

KACHINA: People can get kicked out for their sexuality and very petty things. And everyone deserves a home.

MATT SEPIC: Another provider, YouthLink is staying open 24 hours for older teens and young adults who need a place to warm up. Temperatures are expected to rise a bit tomorrow. The forecast high in the Twin Cities is minus 3, but a number of school districts, including Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Anoka-Hennepin have still canceled classes giving schoolchildren a third day off. Highs approaching 40 degrees above 0 are in store for Saturday. Matt Sepic, NPR News.

TOM: Making your way from International Falls to Tower in weather like this can be tough enough in an all-wheel-drive car. But what about running, skiing, or cycling while pulling a sled of supplies? That's the point of the Arrowhead 135 Race.

The planners want the race to be as challenging as possible, so they schedule it for what is likely the coldest week of the year. And boy, this year, they hit the jackpot. Hastings native John [INAUDIBLE] has run this ultra marathon 14 times. He joins us now from Tower where the race ends. And congratulations for the finish, and thanks for joining us, John.

JOHN: Tom, thank you very much, and thanks for having me.

TOM: So tell us what it was like out there this year?

JOHN: Well, those of us that have done the event several times over the years are describing this as a good, old fashioned Arrowhead race. It was cold from start to finish.

TOM: And how did it compare to previous years?

JOHN: There has been some years over the last maybe five or so where we've had relatively mild conditions from start to finish. There's been years where we've had warm to start, cold to finish. And then there's those rare years where we get it in a cold snap like this where it's cold from the beginning until the very end.

TOM: Is this the coldest you remember from your times?

JOHN: I think we've had some colder, absolute air temperatures. But as far as just how sustained cold it was and with the wind chills, this is definitely going to go down as one of the more challenging races.

TOM: At any point in the race, did it occur to you that this is just too much this year and I can't finish?

JOHN: For me, personally, I didn't run into a situation like that. You're mostly just focused on doing the best job you can possible of taking care of yourself, so you don't create an unsafe situation for yourself or others. And those people that were finding that it was too difficult for them to continue safely made really great decisions for themselves and lived to fight another day.

TOM: Take us into your mind, what's going through your mind? I'm sure there are times your fingers are cold. Your feet, your toes are cold. Your nose. And what's going through your mind to get through it?

JOHN: Well, I think the natural tendency is to really look at things like clothing and maybe some of those externals. But one of the biggest things that you can do to take good care of yourself in an extreme environment like this during a challenging ultra endurance event like this is to really focus on your nutrition.

Make sure you're eating enough food and drinking enough water to fuel the machine so you can continue forward, keep generating body heat. And that's about as safe as you can be.

TOM: Most people listening to this are just going to have a hard time understanding how you do it.

Last night, I actually had to jump start a car. And when the hood wouldn't open, I just said, forget it, I'll do this some other time. It just was too cold, too windy, even with gloves and a hat. And so why do you do it?

JOHN: Being from Minnesota, born and raised, spending a lot of time outside my entire life, getting interested in winter camping at a young age, there's just a real draw to being able to get out in the elements. And you certainly don't conquer the elements. That's not possible. But getting out there and working as safely as you can within the elements is a really fun and interesting challenge.

TOM: When you finished, how did you warm up?

JOHN: I think I had six bowls of tomato soup.

TOM: [CHUCKLES] OK. Well, well earned I would say, John. Congratulations again, and thanks for telling us more about the Arrowhead 135. John [INAUDIBLE] has run the ultramarathon 14 times, including finishing in conditions well below 0 with wind chills even colder. Thanks, John.

JOHN: Tom, Thanks for having me, and thanks for giving some exposure to the event.