Chicago Weather: Temperatures drop in city, suburbs
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Temperatures dropped about 25 degrees Tuesday as arctic air settled over Chicago and the suburbs. The cold snap is going to last through the week.
The early morning high was 58 degrees at O'Hare, but by Tuesday night temperatures will plunge below freezing. Wednesday's high is an expected 35 degrees.
"Where are these temperatures going? Nowhere but down," ABC7 Meteorologist Mike Caplan said. "No records. But look at tomorrow afternoon. . . barely at freezing in some spots."
The arctic air will keep temperatures as much as 40 degrees below average for this time of year. The frigid air was pushed in by a powerful storm that hit Alaska with hurricane-force winds over the weekend.
"It's really windy," Kharmiel Mannie said. "I didn't even bring a hat or gloves or anything. But it's really cold."
This cold snap will last into next week. Both Saturday and Sunday bring another chance of snow, meteorologists said.
This wintry weather will be the first test on home furnaces. Experts say changing filters regularly is the most important thing a homeowner can do.
"To get it inspected is definitely a good thing. There are parts that do wear out, and some parts that need to be oiled," Don Wolter, Four Seasons Heating, said.
Hardware stores said they've seen a run on winter items like shovels and snow melt, as well as insulation for pipes and plastic coverings for windows.
"We've got insulation for the doors, and the double draft stopper for the front door. And of course the window tape," Anthony Gant said.
"Based on tonight we've seen an uptick in sales for salt. An uptick in sales again on snow blowers already on top of a pretty significant increase," Joe Becton, Lowe's Store manager, said.
Crews testing the lights on the city's official Christmas Tree at Daley Plaza hoped to finish before the temps fell.
"We're trying to take advantage of the nice weather right now. We did hear that it's going to get colder. But to be honest with you, we do this every year. So we prepare ourselves very well. We make sure we have a lot of extra layers on," Luis Castro said.
Winter clothing is selling at stores across the area. Nancy McKeon is shopping at Erehwon.
"I did some browsing around to see if I could find some things to layer under, perhaps, the down jacket I have on. Maybe some sweaters," Nancy McKeon said.
"Everybody's looking for long down coats, heavy winter wear, gloves, scarves. Don't want to get caught off-guard," Joanne Gabrielson, Erehwon manager, said. "Last year, by December, we were mostly out of everything that was really winter weight. So we brought it in early this year to make sure we have it do we're not sending people away at the door."
SNOW, SNOW ... AND TUMBELWEEDS
More than 2 feet of snow blanked parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and more was on the way before the front was expected to exit Wednesday. Northern Wisconsin also got as much as 18 inches of snow, and parts of central Minnesota more than 16.
The weather wasn't enough to persuade Joe Meath to flee Minnesota, even though he won nearly $12 million in a state lottery game two months ago. Meath was busy with his small snowplow business, taking care of his customers in his Chevy truck with nearly 300,000 miles on it.
"I don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't doing this today," Meath told KMSP-TV.
At Northern Michigan University, journalism student Mikenzie Frost said she was headed out the door to figure skating practice early Tuesday when she learned her school, like many others in the region, was closed. So, she shifted plans.
"Going to buy a shovel because we don't have one," Frost said. "We're probably the only people in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) that don't have one."
In Colorado, some residents were shoveling out from under tumbleweeds rather than snow. Winds of up to 60 mph caused tumbleweeds to pile up several feet high in and around Colorado Springs and Pueblo as the storm system moved into the region Monday.
The National Weather Service called for snow to taper Wednesday, except for more lake-effect snow mostly over Michigan.
THE COLD
Unseasonable cold was far more widespread, with the cold air in the Rockies and Midwest spilling into the Pacific Northwest. The chill was aiming for the Appalachians and mid-South by Wednesday morning and the East Coast by Thursday.
In Billings, Montana, where temperatures in the high 60s fell into the single digits, Patsy Kimmel said she'd been warned before arriving from Oklahoma to visit family and celebrate her 70th birthday.
"Yesterday I was wearing sandals and a short-sleeve shirt, and today I'm wearing a coat and scarf and turtleneck and sweatshirt and gloves," said Kimmel.
In the Texas Panhandle temperatures plunged, from 70 degrees into the teens overnight. Oklahoma City went from a high of 80 degrees Monday to a low of 30 Tuesday morning.
In the Dakotas, wind chills made it feel like 20 below in some places. That was good news for Action Mechanical Inc. of Rapid City, South Dakota, which was doing a booming heating and ventilation business.
"Bang! We get this arctic blast, and it just opens the floodgates," said John Hammond Jr., a department head. "We're behind right now as we're sitting here talking."
In Denver, temperatures in the teens prompted officials to move a Veteran's Day ceremony indoors.
AT LEAST SOME OF THE CATTLE ARE READY
With only a few inches of snow, ranchers in the Dakotas were upbeat, mindful of intense storms in October 2013 that killed at least 43,000 cattle that hadn't yet developed protective winter coats.
"We've had enough cool weather (this year) that they're haired up like bears," said South Dakota Stockgrowers Association President Bob Fortune, who ranches near Belvidere. "They can take winter now."
But Wyoming rancher Ogden Driskill said conditions in his northeastern corner of the state turned cold so abruptly that cattle hadn't yet developed that thick coat. He said the cold was more of a risk to calves who might sicken than to mature cattle.
DON'T BLAME THE POLAR VORTEX
Meteorologists are adamant the weather isn't because of the polar vortex, a giant upper air pattern that normally pens in cold air in the Arctic in the winter. Instead, they say it's pushed in by a different weather phenomenon more related to the remnants of a powerful typhoon.
"The polar vortex itself has not moved south. It's still in the Arctic where it always is," said National Weather Service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan.
Whatever the case, the cold is expected to linger. Some regions will go from record warm to record cold in just two days, with temperatures dropping 15 to 20 degrees below normal on the East Coast Friday and Saturday. Freezing temperatures will likely dip as far south as Atlanta on Friday, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the Weather Underground.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
