CHICAGO � Faced with a solemn responsibility Wednesday morning, Peter Thomas did not flinch. He arose, as always, at 3:45 a.m., when the temperature was already well south of zero, and made it to the Elmhurst train station in time to open his coffee shop, Pilot Pete's, for commuters catching the first Metra of the day.
"People today need coffee more than any other day," he said.
Indeed, the blast of frigid arctic air sent temperatures plummeting across the Chicago area. Even before 2 a.m., Wednesday had set a record low for Jan. 30, descending to 16 degrees below zero and beating a low temperature of minus 15 set in 1966. By 6 a.m., temperatures were down to minus 22 at O'Hare International Airport, with wind chill of 49 degrees below zero there, according to the National Weather Service.
Other areas saw wind chills as low as 50 below zero by early Wednesday. West of Chicago, Dekalb recorded wind chills of 54 degrees below zero by 6 a.m.
The U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak suspended service, and schools in the Midwest closed through Thursday.
"Today's about as cold as it can get in Chicago," said Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
In Elmhurst, about a dozen hearty commuters were waiting for the 5:34 a.m. train, including Donald Moore, who walked more than half a mile from his house almost completely mummified.
"I had a bunch of layers," said Moore, who works at the CME Group, a financial company in the Loop. "The only thing cold was the slightest exposure around the eyes, but yeah, I made it here."
Rebecca Steinmann, an emergency department nurse at Lurie Children's Hospital, wasn't taking any chances. She had her husband drive her to the station from her house eight blocks away, even though she was armored against the cold with thermal underwear, hand warmers and toe warmers. She was hopeful she wouldn't see many cold-related injuries when she arrived at work.
"So far, so good," she said. "People, at least yesterday, were being sensible."
The temperature was expected continue to fall until about 9 a.m. Wednesday, then increase only to about minus 14 degrees by about 2 p.m. with wind chills of about 39 degrees below zero, before beginning a slide expected to last into Thursday morning. Thursday's predicted low of 27 degrees below zero at O'Hare would match the city's all-time record low temperature.
"If there is any day where you need to demonstrate cold weather safety to the max, it is Wednesday," the weather service said in an alert Tuesday evening. "The Arctic air will be fully entrenched over the region. Temperatures will likely remain in the negative double digits area wide for the entire day, with record all-time cold lows and highs possible."
All of northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin was under a wind chill warning until noon Thursday, after temperatures reached a high of only 8 degrees _ with a wind chill of 2 below zero _ on Tuesday. Temperatures were not expected to return to normal highs until Saturday.
As the cold weather gripped the Midwest, Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined governors in Michigan and Wisconsin in issuing a disaster proclamation to provide resources to help officials respond and recover from the bitter temperatures.
The potentially record-setting temperatures come after the Chicago area experienced 13 consecutive days where at least a trace of snow was reported at O'Hare, according to the weather service.
The prolonged cold snap in much of the Midwest and East Coast is due to a disruption in the polar vortex. After one cold front moved in overnight Monday, the high Tuesday reached only 8 degrees in the pre-dawn hours. The stretch of subzero temperatures is expected to last into Thursday, with the temperature at O'Hare possibly not rising about zero until early Friday.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Chicago was 27 below zero on Jan. 20, 1985. While that record isn't certain to fall, the daily record low for Jan. 30 of minus 15 already had fallen early Wednesday and the record low for Jan. 31 of minus 12 will almost certainly be bested, as could the coldest daytime high in Chicago of 11 below zero, set Christmas Eve 1983.
Chicago Public Schools canceled all classes and activities that were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Most schools and some churches and other institutions have been listing closings on the Emergency Closing Center website.
Amtrak cancelled Chicago-area service for Wednesday and expected to halt most trains for Thursday also. The South Shore Line suspended service Wednesday. Metra announced the agency was honoring South Shore tickets, according to its website. Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service cancelled delivery service Wednesday for vast parts of the Midwest, including the Chicago area, from western Pennsylvania to the Dakotas to Iowa.
At Chicago airports, more than 1,300 flights were cancelled as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the city's aviation department. Those heading to the airport Wednesday morning should expect delays of more than 15 minutes.
After about 1,400 flights were cancelled Monday at Chicago airports because of snowstorms, about 600 were cancelled Tuesday.
