Winter has finally arrived, and forecasters say the cold plans on playing catch-up for the season’s mild start.
Temperatures this week will be unseasonably low–with highs in the 20s and lows in the teens and a few inches of snow from scattered storms over the next three days.
“People were spoiled because we had such a warm beginning,” said Rich Brumer, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “We knew it was coming, that winter was finally going to make its debut.”
The temperatures likely won’t break any records, but it will be persistently “frigidly cold” and cloudy with snow on the ground, Brumer said. Sunshine should peek through by the weekend when another cold blast may push temperatures into single digits, he said.
“The temperatures will be below normal for an extended period,” he said.
Chicagoans were taking the news in good humor Sunday, resigned to accept their delayed fate. Law student Laura Bridges even welcomed the cold.
“This weather is a relief because it didn’t feel like winter before,” said Bridges, 29, who was studying in the Nordstrom Cafe downtown Sunday. “I brought out my grungy snow boots this morning.”
After single-digit temperatures overnight Sunday, the daytime high Monday through Thursday should hover in the low 20s, with nighttime lows in the teens, Brumer said.
The forecast warns of temperatures below the average range for this time of year. The normal high temperature for late January is about 30 degrees, he said.
But Chicago has had colder temperatures. The record low for Jan. 28 was 1 degree in 1997, according to National Weather Service statistics.
As for snow, Brumer predicted scattered snowfall Monday, in the afternoon and night, with an accumulation of between 1 and 3 inches of snow by Tuesday afternoon.
The snow should let up by Thursday, but sunshine slated for the weekend will be paired with colder temperatures in the teens, he said.
Half of the city’s snow-fighting trucks patrolled Chicago streets Saturday night as flurries fell, city spokesman Matt Smith said. About 170 trucks salted the city’s main streets, and they will be re-deployed whenever road conditions become slick, he said.
For security guard Ronell Calahan, the worst of the chill hits him each morning at 5, when he leaves for work. Even when he bundles up, it’s pretty brutal, said Calahan, 32, of Marquette Park.
“On a scale from 1 to 10, it’s a 10,” he said of the cold. “I wish I was in Florida for the [Bears’ Super Bowl] game.”
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efitzsimmons@tribune.com
