Record cold headed for Chicago and Upper Midwest

Brutal cold will likely shatter dozens of records across the Midwest and Great Lakes, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.

By Tuesday night in Chicago, temperatures are expected to drop to 23F below zero, flirting with the city’s coldest temperature ever: minus 27F, set on Jan. 20, 1985. (Note: That is not just a daily record, it is an all-time record.)

Chicago’s daytime high – the high! – on Wednesday is expected to be of around 15F below (-26C),” said Hennen. Nighttime temperatures will plunge to 20-40 F below zero.

Life-threatening wind chills 30 (-34C) to 50 (-45C) degrees below zero.

Temperatures are forecast to rise to a high of about minus 14F on Wednesday — the coldest winter high ever recorded in Chicago — before dipping to about minus 21F overnight. The previous coldest daytime high in Chicago was minus 11F set on Christmas Eve 1983. (Again, that is not just a daily record, it is an all-time record.)

This week’s predicted lows have only two rivals: minus 16F on Jan. 6, 2014, and minus 19F on Feb. 3, 1996.

Chicago will not be alone in its misery. Some 75 percent of the US will suffer below-freezing temps this week, trapping millions of Americans in sub-zero temperatures and “dangerous to impossible travel conditions.”

Meanwhile, the Dakotas are grappling with blizzard conditions, the National Weather Service said. And heavier snow is expected in the Upper Midwest and Great lakes, meaning “dangerous to impossible travel conditions.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-cold-weather-20190127-story.html

Chicago Tribune. https://tiny.iavian.net/qzm7

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/28/us/winter-weather-monday-wxc/index.html