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Brutal weather in store for Chicagoland Tuesday propelled by nasty wind chills
With temps barely reaching the double digits and subzero wind chills, Chicago is in for a brutally cold Tuesday.
CHICAGO - Temperatures will plummet to their lowest this season on Tuesday night in Chicago, with wind chills as low as minus 25 degrees possible away from the lake.
It will be so cold that exposed skin could become frost-bitten in only 30 minutes, according to the National Weather Service.
A wind chill advisory is in effect from 8 p.m. Tuesday to noon Wednesday in northern Illinois.
Warming centers have opened in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
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Tuesday will remain sunny with a high of 11 degrees, but the extreme cold will move in after sunset. Temperatures will fall to minus 7 at O’Hare Airport, with wind making it feel more like minus 19 degrees.
Areas farther from the lake could have wind chills as low as minus 25. The Rockford area could feel as cold as minus 30.
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Afternoon forecast for Chicagoland on Jan. 25th
FOX 32's Tim McGill breaks down this week's weather outlook.
The last time Chicago was that cold was Feb. 7, 2021, when temperatures also reached minus 7 degrees, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Birk. Temperatures dipped again to minus 5 on Feb. 14, 2021.
"Last February was pretty cold and snowy, but it gets cold than that," Birk said. "We’ll get several degrees below zero a couple times each year."
Although Tuesday night is expected to be very cold, it’s not the coldest Jan. 25th on record. The temperature in Chicago reached minus 20 degrees in 1897, Birk said.
Just three years ago, in 2019, the city recorded a Jan. 25th with a temperature of minus 6 degrees, he said.
Wednesday’s temperature will rise again to around 10 degrees, but the wind chill will remain extremely cold, reaching as low as minus 20 again, according to the weather service. Wednesday night’s low wind chill is expected around minus 7 degrees.
A warm-up is expected Thursday, when daytime temperatures rise to 30 degrees, with nighttime lows nearly reaching the single digits. There’s also a chance of snow.