Tuesday's flash freeze and wind-whipped snows paralyzed roadways and killed power in Northwest Indiana and south suburban Chicago.

Cars and semitrailers slid from icy roads, most notably Interstate 65 south of Interstate 80.

Three semitrailers jackknifed about 7:30 p.m. on I-65's southbound lanes north of 61st Street in Hobart, a Hobart firefighter said Tuesday night. No one was hurt in those wrecks, the firefighter said, but the southbound lanes were still closed at 9:30 p.m.

Dispatchers reported numerous slide-offs and accidents on I-65 between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. An Indiana State Trooper said no major injuries were reported from the wrecks.

Temperatures plummeted Tuesday afternoon, dropping by 50 degrees in some places around Chicago, said Gino Izzi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Romeoville, Ill., station. Izzi predicted an inch of snow for most areas Tuesday night, followed by frigid low temperatures and wind gusts that will push wind chills down to 25 degrees below zero.

"The only thing we can be thankful for is that it's not 6 or 10 inches of snow," Izzi said.

ComEd and NIPSCO reported outages Tuesday night. About 200 NIPSCO-powered homes and business had lost power about 9 p.m., said Jim Fitzer, company spokesman. About 200 homes and businesses in south suburban Chicago had lost power about 7:30 p.m., said Judy Rader, ComEd spokeswoman.

Izzi predicted today's cold will be followed by snow Thursday night into Friday morning.

"It's like the winter that won't go away," Izzi said.