After 29 cold, bitter hours below zero, temperatures in Chicago climbed back to zero at 2 a.m. Saturday, according to meteorologists.
But that doesn’t mean Chicago is out of the woods — strong winds of up to 40 miles per hour and “dangerous” wind chills of 25 to 30 degrees below zero will continue to blow in the city, according to the National Weather Service.
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“It’s definitely already gotten better, but it’s still not that pleasant out there,” said Brian Leatherwood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Chicago. “It’s still pretty nasty from a temperature and wind point of view but compared to what we were seeing yesterday, there is an improvement.”
Winds will produce drifting snow in the morning, creating visibility issues, especially in open and rural areas. A slow improvement in weather conditions is expected in the afternoon, with the winter weather advisory ending at noon.
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“The blowing snow compared to what we saw yesterday is also not as bad but it’s still occurring in some locations. Mainly what we’re seeing now is just the snow is kind of drifting around with the winds,” Leatherwood said.
Chicago’s official high of 1 degree below zero on Friday marked the first subzero high in December in the city since 1983, the National Weather Service said. After that record, temperatures will rise during the holiday weekend, albeit almost imperceptibly.
“For Christmas, it’s going to be probably around 12, 13 degrees Fahrenheit and still going to be a little bit breezy out there. Not as bad, but we’ll still see some wind chills maybe continue to be below zero,” Leatherwood said. “I think though we’re going to see the clouds break up. So that’s going to be some good news. It’s going to be sunny but still cold out there.”
Temperatures will be higher late next week with highs expected to reach 50 degrees, which would mean Chicago will feel 90 degrees warmer than it did with wind chills of 35 to 40 below zero Friday morning.
