MILWAUKEE | Intense snow and powerful wind caused blizzard-like conditions Monday across parts of the Midwest, prompting officials to cancel about 1,000 flights in Chicago and close hundreds of schools in several states. But forecasters warn the most perilous weather is yet to come: frigidly low temperatures that the region hasn’t seen in 25 years.
Snowplow drivers had trouble keeping up with the snow in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where up to 14 inches is expected. Chicago-area commuters woke up to heavy snowfall, with more than 5 inches already on the ground. In Michigan, non-essential government offices were closed, including the Capitol.
But the snow is only “part one, and maybe even the easier part” because temperatures will plummet over the next three days, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
Cold weather advisories are in effect across a massive portion of the central U.S., from North Dakota to Missouri and spanning into Ohio. Temperatures will be as many as 20 degrees below average in parts of the Upper Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley, according to the National Weather Service.
Wednesday is expected to be the worst. Wind chills in northern Illinois could fall to negative 55 degrees, which the National Weather Service called “possibly life threatening.” Minnesota temperatures could hit minus 30 degrees with a wind chill of negative 60.
“That’s quite dangerous. You’re talking about frostbite and hypothermia issues very quickly, like in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds,” Hurley said.
The potentially record-breaking low temperature forecast in Milwaukee is negative 28 degrees, with a wind chill as low as negative 50.
“That’s not just unusual. That’s 40 degrees below normal,” Hurley said. “When you think about it in that sense, that’s a big ‘whoa.’”
The current record of minus 26 degrees was set in 1996.
In Chicago, O’Hare International Airport had about 790 canceled flights Monday morning and about 220 canceled flights were reported at Midway International Airport. The high temperature forecast at O’Hare on Wednesday is negative 14 degrees, which would break a record set on Jan. 18, 1994.
The largest public school districts in Wisconsin and Minnesota were among those closed Monday, including districts in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Minnesota State Patrol was responding to scores of spin outs and crashes early Monday in the Twin Cities metro area, even before the busiest commute time, because of snow-covered and icy roads.