Photo by Deb Gau cClearing sidewalks of drifting snow was an ongoing task in Marshall this week. Snow removal equipment was at work on the sidewalk along Southview Drive on Wednesday afternoon.

MARSHALL — Southwest Minnesota entered another day of frigid wind chills, which closed schools and even some businesses on Wednesday. While temperatures around Marshall were warming up a little, they still didn’t get above zero, according to the National Weather Service.

Weather observations from the Marshall airport said the high temperature Tuesday was 15 degrees below zero, with a wind chill of 31 degrees below zero. Temperatures Tuesday night and Wednesday morning stayed between 20 and 30 below, while the wind chill factor got as low as 59 degrees below zero, around midnight Tuesday.

The cold disrupted some local services on Wednesday. Community Transit services were shut down, and at the statewide level postal delivery was suspended. Schools were closed, as was the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University.

In Marshall, local utility workers were prepared to respond to possible emergencies like power outages or broken water lines during the extreme cold. However, as of Wednesday afternoon there hadn’t been many reports, said MMU electric operations manager Steve Johnson.

“We had a transformer fuse that blew,” along Saratoga Street Tuesday night, Johnson said. About three four-plex buildings on Thunderbird Road were without power for two hours and 20 minutes, Johnson said. An MMU electric crew was able to repair the transformer, he said, but first they had to dig through a snowdrift to reach the transformer box.

MMU electrical workers were back Wednesday afternoon to replace the transformer.

Johnson said it was possible that increased use of electricity, due to the extreme cold, contributed to the blown fuse.

While temperatures Wednesday afternoon were warming up, southwest Minnesota isn’t in the clear yet for winter weather. A wind chill warning remains in effect for southwest Minnesota until 9 a.m. today. The NWS forecasts continued dangerous wind chills, as low as 45 degrees below zero, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Wind chills that cold could cause frostbite in as little as 10 minutes, the NWS said.

Many area school districts, including Marshall, Lakeview, Lynd and Minneota, are starting two hours late today.

The weather forecast for this weekend is shaping up to be a stark contrast to Tuesday and Wednesday’s cold and wind. While there is a chance for snow Thursday morning, temperatures are expected to reach highs in the 30s on Saturday and Sunday. However, a wintry mix of precipitation, including freezing rain and snow, is likely on Sunday night, the NWS said.