Ladies and gentlemen, start your electric blankets.
Weather watchers told Chicago area residents to prepare themselves Friday for the coldest snap in nearly a decade, including windchill factors as low as 50 or 60 degrees below zero.
The all-time low for Chicago was 27 degrees below zero recorded on Jan. 20, 1985. While it wasn’t expected to get that bad this week, the coldest stretch-probably 20 below in the suburbs from Friday night into Saturday morning-may break the record lows set in 1979 for Jan. 14 (14 below) and Jan. 15 (19 below), according to the Central Weather Service.
The high, on Friday morning, was expected to reach only zero to 5 above, with a good chance it will drop below the zero mark in the afternoon, said Robb Kaczmarek, spokesman for the Central Weather Service.
The best advice was the simplest. “Don’t go outside,” Kaczmarek said. “This could be life-threatening. In a matter of minutes, anything exposed is going to be frozen.”
For those without a properly heated home, though, private agencies and city departments were ready with emergency help.
The Chicago Department of Human Services is expecting a surge in requests for shelter from homeless individuals and others in need of help, but Commissioner Daniel Alvarez said he expects shelters to have enough beds to handle the increased demand.
Of the 4,700 beds available each night through 75 private agencies, an average of 200 to 300 go unused, Alvarez said.
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Anyone in need of help can call the department’s hot line, 1 800 654-8595, and a van will be sent to take the person to a shelter or any other place he needs to go because of the cold.
For those who stay at home, the Chicago Fire Department advises that space heaters be kept at least three feet from curtains and furniture and that extension cords never be used with space heaters.
A call to 312 744-5000 will provide inspectors to check if buildings aren’t sufficiently heated. City ordinance requires landlords to keep buildings heated to at least 63 degrees at night and 68 during the day.
Building Commissioner-designate Graham Grady devised a new system this week under which an inspector living in the neighborhood of anyone with a heating complaint will be beeped and dispatched to cold apartments.
At the same time, a supervisor will call up building data on a computer that will include names and phone numbers of landlords and building managers.