CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A week of frigid temperatures has begun. The overnight hours into Tuesday are shaping up to be the coldest stretch.
A blast of arctic air has begun to infiltrate the Chicago area and will stick around until the end of the work week.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Cold Weather Advisory for the entire northern half of Illinois. This includes the following Chicago-area counties: Boone, McHenry, Lake, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, Cook, La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee. The advisory goes into effect at 9 p.m. Monday night and will last until noon Tuesday.
The NWS says in the overnight and in the morning hours wind chills could be as low as 20 below zero. Frostbite on exposed skin could begin to develop in as little as 30 minutes in these conditions, warns the NWS.
Monday begins a brutally cold three-day stretch, where AccuWeather says temperatures will struggle to climb above the single digits.
NWS projects the coldest and most dangerous period to be Monday night and Tuesday morning, with wind chills dropping to as low as 30 below zero for much of the area.
AccuWeather says we’ll begin to thaw by Friday, but there won't be much relief until the weekend.
In the midst of this frigid week, warming centers will be available throughout the city of Chicago at public facilities such as libraries, park district buildings, police stations, City Colleges facilities, and six community service centers. But, given the President’s Day holiday, some locations will be closed. The city says the Garfield Community Service Center (10 S. Kedzie Ave.) will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In suburban Cook County, three special warming centers have been activated and will run continuously until 5 p.m. Tuesday. They are the Skokie Courthouse (5600 Old Orchard Rd., Skokie, IL), Maywood Courthouse (1500 Maybrook Dr., Maywood, IL) and Markham Courthouse (16501 S. Kedzie Ave., Markham, IL).
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