Cold, Really Cold, Weather Ahead
Updated: 12/09/10 6:01 p.m.
• NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WATCHES AND WARNINGS
• CHECK YOUR FLIGHT
• GET THE FORECAST
• CHECK RADAR MAPS
• GET TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
• CHECK SCHOOL, BUSINESS CLOSINGS
• FIND A WARMING CENTER
CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) - If you think the early winter chill has hit Chicago with a vengeance, just you wait.
CBS 2 Meteorologist Megan Glaros says next week, the daytime temperature will barely rise above the single-digits, and the nighttime temperature might be in negative territory.
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The Chicago area could see a messy mix of snow and freezing drizzle Thursday night.
A warm front that is bringing light snowfall across Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties will continue to move east into Michigan and Indiana, the National Weather Service said. Snowfall will be confined to areas north of I-80.
Moderate snow should reach Chicago by 9 p.m. but will end by midnight, the weather service said.
Drivers are urged to be cautious and alert for rapid changes in weather conditions, the weather service said.
The city Dept. of Streets & Sanitation put 174 snow fighting trucks onto the main routes and Lake Shore Drive at 4 p.m. to assist evening rush traffic, a release from the department said.
The area will see a brief break from snow on Friday with the high expected to reach 35 degrees and the low at night just 29 degrees, the weather service said.
But there is a 70 percent chance of snow on Saturday night with the low expected at 23 degrees, the weather service said.
The Bears will play a home game Sunday in extremely chilly temperatures and high winds, the weather service said. Temperatures are expected to dip into the teens by Sunday evening with 30 mph winds anticipated.
It's all a prelude to an extremely chilly Monday, with the high to reach just 16 degrees. By night, the low will dip to 7 degrees.
City warming centers already have been open this week, but next week they'll be even more critically important.
Deputy Commissioner Sam Bunville with the city's Department of Family and Support Services says his staffers will be ready to do well-being checks and scouring homeless haunts to get the homeless off the streets and into shelters.
He says even when the weather turns deadly cold, some of the hardcore homeless refuse to come in. "If we have those individuals who do not, no matter what we try to do, come inside, we try to make where they're at as comfortable as possible whether it's coats, gloves, hats, blankets, providing them a hot meal."
Bunville says it's also important for people to check in on friends and relatives, especially the elderly or chronically ill. If you need the city to do a well-being check, you can call 311.
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The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
