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 7 a.m., temperatures were down to minus 23 at O'Hare International Airport, with wind chill of 52 degrees below zero, 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. Temperatures had slightly climbed to 19 degrees below zero just before 11:30 a.m., according to the weather service.
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 hardy 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 heart of the cold snap started Monday night and since then temperatures have plummeted, Friedlein said. Temperatures were expected to peak about minus 11 to minus 15 by Wednesday afternoon before dropping again, Friedlein said. Temperatures will continue to drop overnight and will likely reach near the record of 27 degrees below zero, he said.
"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."
Temperatures were not expected to return to normal highs until Saturday. Wind chills were expected to be as low as minus 45 to minus 55 degrees, according to the weather service.
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. More snow could be on the way, with a chance of 1 to 4 inches of snow accumulating Thursday across Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana, Friedlein said.
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 10 degrees in the pre-dawn hours. The stretch of subzero temperatures was expected to last into Thursday, with the temperature at O'Hare possibly not rising to 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.
By noon Wednesday, about 7,900 customers remained without power in the Chicago area, said John Schoen, spokesperson for ComEd. The power outages were spread throughout the city and suburbs. Earlier Wednesday, there were 19,000 customers without power, and that number later grew to 25,000, Schoen said.
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 canceled 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 canceled delivery service Wednesday for vast parts of the Midwest, including the Chicago area, from western Pennsylvania to the Dakotas to Iowa.
Most colleges, courts, cultural institutions and libraries were closed Wednesday.
The Chicago Transit Authority and Metra commuter transit systems often experience mechanical difficulties in extreme cold. On the CTA, the Red, Green and Yellow Lines operated on modified schedules with longer gaps between trains.
Metra operated on a modified schedule Wednesday because of the frigid temperatures, according to officials.
At Chicago airports, more than 1,700 flights were canceled as of about 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to the city's Aviation Department. Those heading to the airport Wednesday should expect delays of more than 15 minutes.
After about 1,400 flights were canceled Monday at Chicago airports because of snowstorms, about 600 were cancelled Tuesday. The city aviation department has delay and cancellation information on its website, and links to individual airlines' flight information.
Wednesday morning, parts of the South Side in Chicago looked like ghost towns as normally crowded outdoor Metra platforms were empty and red line stations looked completely abandoned. Churches, day care centers, banks, nail shops and hair salons posted closed for business signs on their doors. But for those who had to work, staying at home wasn't an option.
Willie Taylor nursed a cup of coffee in the McDonald's lobby in Englewood. He said his wife needed to report to her job at a local grocery store, so he got up early to get the car warmed up and drive her there.
"I came out to crank the car and I've been moving around ever since," said the 71-year-old Auburn Gresham resident. "You've got to move around in this weather. You can't just stand in one place."
Nearby, Nya Womack hopped from side to side as she waited for her grandfather to order breakfast. Even the indoors had a chill in the air, she said, and so she fidgeted to both distract her from the cold and to warm up her limbs.
"It's the coldest I've ever seen it," the 12-year-old said, opening her eyes for emphasis. "I've got on two jackets, two shirts, two pairs of socks. I'm still cold."
Across town in South Shore, Mallrie Sonier sat in a coffee shop working at his laptop and watching the vehicles go by outside. He walked three blocks from his house to the coffee shop and at times struggled to breathe because of the bitterly cold air.
"I wasn't going to stay inside all day," he said. But, he advised: "You can't be out here wandering around. Know where you're going and get there."
"It's Chicago ... We don't let the weather stop us. There's still things that need to be done. You just get out, and complain about it all day long," he said.
Bill Frye said he didn't worry about car thieves Wednesday. He left his Jeep cranked and running as he rushed from place to place on his errands. He had a doctor's appointment and wasn't going to stay home or cancel.
"I've lived through blizzards. I was here when the snow was so high you couldn't get out your door," the 63-year-old South Shore resident said. "This might be one of the coldest days, but I know how to prepare myself. I've got on my layers, insulated military boots."
Tyler Peterson stood unprotected from the flag-snapping wind on Mannheim Road in Stone Park, waiting for a bus that would take him home to Hillside after finishing his overnight shift in a nearby warehouse. Pulling down the tan scarf that covered his face, he said it was the coldest day he could remember.
"I didn't have a clue it would be this bad until I got out here," he said. "I can feel it on my skin and all over my body, even with the layers."
The cold also did not stop the work at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, where Chuck Robertson braved the frigid conditions to make sure grave sites were cleared of snow for upcoming burials once the weather warms. He had a list of four burial sites to check Wednesday. Robertson, 30, wore a beanie-style hat, thermal underwear and a cemetery-issued coat, sweater and safety boots.
"I mean, it was ... cold," said Robertson, the assistant cemetery manager. "But death doesn't really wait for the cold, or wait for the families who have unfortunately lost a loved one, and we need to be here to serve our families. It's Chicago. We just have to buckle down and do our jobs."
Robertson said no burials were scheduled for Wednesday, and one burial originally slated for Thursday has been postponed to Friday, when temperatures are expected to be higher. Work crews still were outside preparing grave sites, Robertson said, but were taking frequent warm-up breaks.
At a Mobil gas station on Illinois Highway 176 in suburban Libertyville, owner Sunil Patel said there was a big demand for bottles of Heet, a gas-line antifreeze for vehicle engines. A small pile of empty bottles used by customers was beginning to pile up behind the counter. Windshield-wiper fluid was also a popular item.
A steady stream of customers, including a coffee delivery driver, visited the gas station to fill up their cars or steel themselves against the cold with cups of coffee. The roller grill was loaded with hot dogs and taquitos. Patel said he arrived at work at 4:30 a.m., making the pre-dawn drive from his home in Palatine along mostly abandoned roads. He said he never considered closing.
"We have to take care of our customers," Patel said. "We've still had some customers, even though it's so cold."
Patel noted the station's car wash was still open. Was anyone actually going to get a car wash on one of the coldest days in Chicago-area history? Patel just laughed and shrugged.
