The big story this week - and month, really - has been the massive deep freeze and polar vortex we are seeing across much of the Midwest.

In fact, it was so cold on Wednesday and into Thursday morning that schools, businesses and office buildings closed their doors for the day.

Some areas across the Northland saw wind chill values hovering near 60 below at times.

It was absolutely brutal but the good news is that we seem to have moved past it for now. (That is not to say it won't be back soon though. This is Minnesota after all!)

Now that we are in the clear, I thought it would be funny to take a look at a few places that were warmer than we were this week. Yes - I'm talking places that are known for being absolutely freezing. It really helps put things into perspective, doesn't it?

Ha! Here are 5 places that seemed downright tropical compared to our frigid wind chills.

  • 1

    Mars

    According to WDIO's Storm Team, some parts of Mars were actually warmer than we were in Duluth this week - most notably, Wednesday. It is important to keep in mind that Mars is different in a lot of ways so this isn't a super fair comparison but it's still fun nonetheless.

  • 2

    The North Pole

    Ouch. This one hurts a little - okay, A LOT! This stat also comes to us courtesy of WDIO's Storm Team. It's never a good sign when the North Pole seems like a nice vacation.

  • 3

    Mount Everest

    According to reports, at one point on Wednesday, base camp at Mount Everest was ringing in around two degrees below zero. We blew that out of the water in Duluth and the surrounding areas. Yikes.

  • 4

    Antarctica

  • 5

    Siberia

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