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Nest thermostats have broken on one of the coldest days on record .
Users around the world are unable to adjust their app- and website-controlled heating systems because the online service is down.
The problems come as the US and elsewhere braces for one of the coldest days on record, with Chicago and other areas set to be colder than parts of Antarctica . Officials have warned that the temperatures could be life-threatening and that they might damage people's houses if their heating systems are unable to cope.
The Nest outage appears to be hitting across the world, according to Down Detector. Other parts of the globe are affected by the low temperatures, with the UK also forecast to be hit by snow and other extreme weather .
Nest's range of thermostats, smoke detectors and cameras are intended to make people's houses safer by adding the internet to commonly used technology.
The thermostats themselves can work without connecting to the internet, and still appear to be working. But previous problems have meant that heating systems have turned off automatically , and the thermostats do not appear to be keeping to their usual schedules.
Show all 62 1 /62Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow covers houses in Gold Hill, in Shaftesbury, Dorset
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People enjoying a walk through Whitelee Windfarm in North Ayrshire, Scotland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow Rollers form in a field in Marlborough, Wiltshire. They are a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs are formed naturally as chunks of snow are blown along the ground by the wind. As they move they pick up snow on the way, in much the same way that the large snowballs used in snowmen are made.
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Two men help a driver try to get his car moving, after snowfalls yesterday and overnight have brought widespread disruption
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow dusts the Angel of the North sculpture and covers the ground surrounding it in Gateshead
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A wintry scene at Nenthead in Cumbria after a band of wintry weather brought hill snow and a risk of ice to large parts of the country
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Children play in the snow in Hartley Wintney, in Hampshire
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A dog walker in a street in Bristol
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures The River Forth in Stirling
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A man walks past the Starbucks Coffee store at the Membury Services on the M4
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A snowplough clears a road near in Shaftesbury, Dorset
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Ice crystals form on the windows of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A couple walk through a frosty landscape near Ashford in Kent
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Ducks on a frozen near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A gate at the entrance to a farm near the village of Moscow in Ayrshire
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People walk past the frozen Sefton Park Lake in Liverpool
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Partially frozen water on the River Clunie in Scotland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A frozen notice board at the allotments in Mudchute farm on the Isle of Dogs
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow on the hills around Buttermere in the Lake District
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A man snowboards at Solomon's Temple in Buxton, Derbyshire
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A couple walk through the Frost in Ashford, Kent
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A woman walks through snow covered trees in Buxton, Derbyshire
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Altrincham, Greater Manchester
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Braemar, Scotland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures 3 wheel Reliant Robin in the snow off the A6 near the village of Shap in Cumbria
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A red deer grazes in the snow, in Glen Etive, Scotland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People skiing along a road in West Didsbury
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A Shetland pony gallops in a field in Tingwall on the Shetland Islands
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Morning fog floats through the valley at Tingwall
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Clare Strode and her 4 year old son Alejandro enjoy sledging on Camp Hill, Woolton
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Sheep surrounded by snow-covered fields near Balado in Fife
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Liverpool Airport which had to temporarily halted flights due to the severe weather
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A husky dog enjoys a walk on Camp Hill, Woolton
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snowmen on the banks of the River Cam in Cambridge
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People walk along a snow covered road in Altrincham
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People walk through snow on the banks of the River Cam in Cambridge
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A train at Hunt's Cross station in Liverpool
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A couple walk through a snowy park, in High Wycombe
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A horse in a snowy field in the Divis Mountain area of Belfast
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures An out of service Ulsterbus travels along the Glenshane Pass in after heavy snowfall in Northern Ireland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Network Rail on the railway in Kyleum, Scotland
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A worker uses a bobcat to clear snow from a sidewalk alongside Nantasket Beach in Hull
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A man walks his dog through the snow in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A snow plough CLEARING TRACKS
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Heavy snow fall in Glasgow's West End
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A woman walks through a snow shower in London
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow covers the ground in Cheshire
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Walkers on a snow-covered path outside the Peak View tea rooms near Macclesfield
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A gritter from the Northern Ireland Department of Infrastructure clears the road during heavy snowfall on the Glenshane Pass
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Surfers take on the big waves at Tynemouth
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Frost covers the grass in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire while deer eat
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow fall on the beach at Whitley Bay, North Tyneside
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures People traverse the frosty river banks at the base of Pen y Fan mountain in the Brecon Beacons
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Walkers make their way along the Long Walk near Windsor Castle
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Farmhouses in Teesdale
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Members of the public make their way through a snow shower in the West End in Glasgow
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A dog walker makes her way along the Long Walk near Windsor Castle
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures A car drives through a snow shower in London
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Heavy snowfall on the Glenshane Pass
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Seagulls on a frozen Marden Quarry in North Tyneside
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow covers the Killhope lead mining museum in County Durham
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Snow and icy conditions hit the UK – Winter weather in pictures Snow showers along the sea front at Whitley Bay
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The problems come as a blast of arctic-chilled air from the polar vortex brought dangerous, record-setting cold to a wide swath of the eastern United States on Tuesday, stretching from the Dakotas through Maine, with snow expected as far south as Alabama and Georgia.
Cities in the Midwest opened warming shelters as temperatures plummeted well below zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17.8 degrees Celsius). Regional governments closed hundreds of schools and airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights, including many to Atlanta days before the National Football League's Super Bowl.
The Midwest will be the hardest-hit area, with a life-threatening wind chill bringing temperatures down as low as minus 50F (minus 46C) in the Chicago area and northern Illinois by Tuesday evening, the National Weather Service reported.
"This storm poses a serious threat to the well-being of people around the state, and we will use every tool at our disposal to keep our residents safe," said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in a statement on Tuesday.
As much as two feet (60 cm) of snow was forecast in Wisconsin, and six inches (15 cm) in Illinois.
"Listen to the people in your area ... We're taking about what could be a very dangerous situation, especially for those traveling," NWS forecaster Jim Hayes warned on Tuesday.
He said frostbite was possible within 10 minutes in the intense cold, which was forecast to linger for days.
The brutal chill was caused by the polar vortex, a mass of freezing air that normally spins around the North Pole, but has made its way south into the United States.
Additional reporting by agencies
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