Frigid subzero weather grips Chicago on 40-year anniversary of record low

Adriana Pérez, Chicago Tribune on Jan 20, 2025

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CHICAGO — Forty years ago today, temperatures in Chicago dipped to an all-time low of minus 27 degrees. The cold stretched to D.C., where it forced Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration ceremony indoors.

As a blast of Arctic air hits most of the country, Donald Trump is being sworn in as president inside the Capitol on Monday because of the frigid conditions. Chicago won’t be spared this time either, with temperatures plunging below freezing from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. Though the cold won’t be record-shattering in the area, subzero windchills will reach a dangerous minus 20 to minus 25 degrees. As little as 30 minutes could cause frostbite on exposed skin.

“It will be the coldest air this winter, for sure,” said Gino Izzi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Chicago. “It really is just a buckling of the jet stream that’s allowing some cold air from Canada — and actually, even from north of Canada in the Arctic — to spread southward across much of the country, including all the way down to the Gulf Coast.”

In Chicago, temperatures are typically around 31 degrees this time of year. After a December of slightly above-average temperatures, in which warm weather outweighed cold stretches, Izzi said, the cold has been “winning out” so far in January.

The National Weather Service issued two cold weather advisories for the city and other parts of Illinois from 6 p.m. Sunday to noon Monday, and later from 9 p.m. Monday to noon Tuesday. The coldest part of the stretch will be felt Monday night into Tuesday, particularly for areas near and north of I-80, where wind chills will range from minus 20 to minus 29.

This weather also prompted the postponement of a protest planned for Inauguration Day in Chicago — a rebrand of the Women’s March as the “People’s March for Justice” organized by a coalition of 60 national and local organizations — to Saturday. The groups cited “concern for attendees’ health” and an effort “to enable more people to attend,” according to an email.

Temperatures have dipped to minus 16 degrees or below on only three days over the last 25 years: Jan. 6, 2014, and Jan. 30-31, 2019. Many of the city’s lowest recorded temperatures came from arctic snaps in 1872 and 1899.

It’s hard to say how many cold stretches Chicago experiences on average each winter, Izzi said.

“Every winter is different. If you think back to last winter, it was incredibly mild all through December, and it was still mild at the beginning of January. Then, we had two and a half weeks of brutal winter weather. And then it was mild again,” he said. “And actually, February was the warmest February on record. But then, if you think back to the infamous ‘polar vortex’ winter (2013-14), it was just cold blast after cold blast after cold blast. So it varies from winter to winter.”

And during a winter of abnormally high temperatures, any drops into the 20s feel like a cold snap — “even though that’s kind of a normal winter.”

“If every day is in the 20s, dropping into the teens is not that big of a deal,” Izzi said. “So it’s all relative.”

The cold will persist through Wednesday morning. Monday afternoon and evening might see intermittent flurries, followed by a chance of accumulating snow on Wednesday and Thursday. After the cold snap, temperatures will be closer to late-January normals through the weekend.

The weather service warned temperatures could lead to possible ice jams and localized flooding — that is, rapid ice buildup on rivers and streams may cause a rapid rise in water levels with little to no notice.

Residents should limit their time outside and dress warmly, making sure to cover their head, face and mouth with a knit hat or scarf, protect their hands with mittens or gloves, wear several layers of loose-fitting clothes and put on water-resistant shoes or boots.

The city of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications urges locals to check on family, neighbors and friends and keep their pets indoors. More than 200 warming centers and public facilities will be open citywide through Friday, including community service centers, senior centers, some Chicago Public Library branches, Chicago Park District field houses and Chicago Police Department districts during business or designated hours. Library branches will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

To find the closest available warming center and hours, residents can contact 311 via phone or online at 311.chicago.gov. Five overnight shelters for youth and adults will be operating through Wednesday morning for those needing emergency assistance. Two daytime drop-in centers will provide extended hours to homeless people: Lincoln Park Community Services at 1521 N. Sedgwick St. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, as well as the Broadway Youth Center at 1023 W. Irving Park Road from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Chicago Tribune’s Rebecca Johnson and Kori Rumore Finley contributed.

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