Temps drop below normal for start of week
CHICAGO (WLS) -- "It's always the first snap that gets you," Earl Sewell said. "When you wake up in the morning and you say, 'Really? Already?'"
Chicago and the suburbs, as well as the rest of Illinois, have already fallen into a deep freeze. Temperatures are going to be 20 to 30 degrees below normal on Monday and Tuesday, according to ABC7 Meteorologist Phil Schwarz. Early Tuesday morning it'll fell like -15 due to wind chills.
Early Wednesday, up to an inch of snow could fall, Schwarz said.
"I'm not ready. I'm not even ready for the tree. I just pulled up and I'm like, 'Why are we putting a tree up? We haven't even gotten through Thanksgiving," Shannon Lindsey said.
While Lindsey might not be ready for stocking stuffers, Lindsay Stupar is all about stocking up on winter clothing.
"New coat. New boots. New everything this year," Stupar said.
Stupar isn't the only one getting ready after last year's rough winter. Transportation officials launched a campaign to warn drivers to slow down when roads get slick, put down their cell phones and leave lots of space in between vehicles.
"This year to prepare we will have over 600 full-time temporary employees that will be on staff to help us fight those storms. We've got salt contracts in place that will be able to equal or surpass last year's events. So there'll be no shortage of material, no shortage of men," Steve Travia, IDOT engineer of operations, said.
