Emily Frederick of Michigan takes a picture Wednesday of her family before an exhibition baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves in Kissimmee, Fla. Travel agents in the East and Midwest are barraged by people seeking to head to warm destinations.

CHICAGO — Shannon Frauenholtz has had it with winter. Barely able to stomach the TV news with its images of snowbound cars, she heads to the tanning salon, closes her eyes and imagines she’s back in Mexico, where she’s already vacationed once this winter.

She’s toyed with the idea of joining her mother in Hawaii or just driving to an indoor water park, figuring that while the palm trees might be plastic and the “beach” smells of chlorine, at least it’s warm. “I don’t need a vacation. I don’t need the relaxation,” she said. “I just need the heat.”

All over the Midwest and East Coast, travel agents are being inundated with a simple request: Get me out of here.

Because they know how miserable people are, warm-weather destinations in California, Arizona and Florida have stepped up their enticements. Trains and billboards in Chicago have been plastered with ads showing beaches and pool scenes. In Philadelphia, one promoter put fiberglass mannequins dressed in flip flops, tank tops and shorts atop taxis with their arms outstretched — a whimsical inducement to “fly” south.

Reminding Americans that there are places where nose hairs don’t freeze is an annual tradition. But those in the business of luring visitors to warmer climates say it’s rarely been easier than this season, when “polar vortex” has entered the everyday vocabulary and “Chi-beria” has become popular enough to emblazon on T-shirts.

“This year we wanted to have a little more fun with it,” said Susannah Costello, of Visit Florida, the state’s official marketing organization, which came up with the mannequin idea.

The ads showing children and bikini-clad women making snow angels in warm beach sand are more plentiful than in years past, acknowledged Erin Duggan, of Visit Sarasota County. “We did that because we knew winter was shaping up to be brutal,” she said.

“The winter is so bad, there is a certain amount of desperation,” said Alex Kutin, an Indianapolis travel agent. “They come and say, ‘I’ve got to get somewhere warm.”’

Just how many more people are trying to get out of the ice box is unclear. Airlines do not release any route-specific data. And although the government tracks some of it, figures will not be released for six months.

But figures from Visit Florida show hotel bookings rose 3 percent in the four weeks ending Feb. 15 compared to last year.