The area’s worst cold snap in a decade sent the mercury into hibernation again Saturday, as temperatures in the region dropped as low as minus 23 degrees and a brutal minus 63 with the windchill factor in some areas.
Despite the bone-chilling numbers, no weather-related deaths were reported as of Saturday night by the sheriff’s departments or coroner’s offices in Cook and its five collar counties.
In Chicago, the Human Services Department had extra staff to carry those without shelter, or those whose homes were without heat, to shelters Friday night. But although the department handled an increasing number of calls throughout the evening, officials said 280 of 4,700 available beds remained empty Friday night despite the bitter cold.
By Saturday night, the city had received 358 calls complaining of no heat and 446 calls of insufficient heat, said Terry Levin, a spokesman for the city. On Friday, the city received 408 calls from residents complaining of no heat and another 473 calls from residents complaining of insufficient heat, he said.
The volume of calls “is higher than usual,” he said, but the city anticipated the increase and put on extra operators to handle the influx, he added. The city requires landlords to keep residences at 68 degrees or warmer during the day and at least 63 degrees overnight.
Two dozen investigators from the city’s Building Department were working through the weekend to respond to the emergencies. Residents without heat who wished to be relocated were taken to a shelter by workers from the Human Services Department.
The low temperature at O’Hare International Airport at 8 a.m. Saturday was minus 17, two degrees shy of the all-time mark set for this date in 1979. The day’s high temperature at O’Hare was minus 4, said Mark Rhein, a weather forecaster with the Central Weather Service.
There have been only 12 days since 1872 that the high temperature was lower than minus 4, the most recent being Dec. 24, 1983, when the high was minus 11, Rhein said.
At 11 p.m. Saturday, Rhein said, the temperature was 15 degrees below zero. He said he was unsure whether temperatures would hit a new low before midnight. The low temperature during the night was expected to be between 15 and 20 degrees below zero, Rhein said, with a high temperature predicted to be about 15 degrees on Sunday.
Windchills dipped as low as 63 below zero at 7 a.m. Saturday on the lakefront when the actual temperature was minus 14 degrees, Rhein said.
The temperature dropped to minus 23 in Arlington Heights, according to Central Weather Service meteorologist Rob Kaczmarek.
More than anything, the cold seemed to affect power lines, cars and heating units, creating potential dangers for those trying to cope with the chill.
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Roughly 20,000 Chicago-area residents lost power overnight Friday, half of them in Deerfield and Northbrook, according to Commonwealth Edison spokesman Jeff Madsen.
Power was restored to most of those customers by 5 a.m. and to all affected customers by 1 p.m., Madsen said.
“This is one of the worst-case scenarios we could ask for,” Madsen said. “And the worst of it isn’t over. We’ve still got plenty of challenges over the next 24 hours.”
Edison workers have been on round-the-clock patrols since 8 p.m. Thursday. But calls were decreasing by Saturday evening.
“We’re going to be delighted to see the temperature climb up to zero,” Madsen said.
The AAA/Chicago Motor Club logged more than 6,000 calls for assistance on Friday, a new record, and was expecting about the same volume on Saturday, said Louis Pukelis, spokesman for AAA.
The agency was responding first to those calls from motorist who were stranded away from home, said Pukelis, who urged people to stay home during the cold wave.
“It’s just been a steady stream of calls,” he said, including repeat requests from members whose cars had been serviced earlier in the cold snap.
Those who had to work outside in the freezing cold found no amount of layering was enough to ward off the bone-chilling temperatures.
One shirt, two sweatshirts, a pair of insulated coveralls, a pair of insulated boots and an insulated jacket weren’t enough to help Dan O’Halloran keep warm as he repaired a heating unit on top of a bank Saturday.
O’Halloran had stopped for parts at Harry Alter Co. on West 120th Street in Alsip, a heating, air conditioning and refrigeration wholesaler. Business was brisk Saturday despite a water main break that had closed a section of the street to traffic.
“How am I staying warm? I’m not. That’s the real problem,” he said, “You just can’t.”
The temperature Sunday was expected to rise to the low teens by the afternoon at O’Hare International Airport and the lakefront. But the warmer weather could bring 2 to 4 inches of snow, forecasters said.