NBC 5’s Chris Hush has all the details as the city of Chicago ramps up its preparations for next week’s cold snap.
Some residents in the city’s Calumet Heights neighborhood have been left without water after a serious water main break Saturday morning.
According to officials, an eight-inch water main broke near the intersection of 89th Street and East End Avenue, flooding the street and sidewalks with water and leaving residents without running water in their homes.
Yards and sidewalks in the neighborhood are caked in ice due to the water main break, but streets have been salted to try to get rid of as much of the ice as possible before colder air moves into the area overnight.
After a sunny start to the day, cloud cover will begin to build into the area in the early evening hours with a Winter Weather Advisory issued for DeKalb and LaSalle counties from 6 p.m. Sunday and for Kane, DuPage, Cook, Grundy, Kendall, and Will counties in Illinois; Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties in Indiana starting at 9 p.m. Sunday, all in effect until 6 p.m. Monday. In addition, beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday, a Winter Storm Warning will go into effect in Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois, as well as Kenosha County in Wisconsin. Heavy snow will begin to fall late Sunday in those areas, with up to 9 inches possible in some areas.
Snow is expected to begin falling in the northwest suburbs and in areas west of Chicago around 10 or 11 p.m., building into the city itself around midnight.
As the overnight hours continue and as dawn breaks, heavy snow is expected to fall in the northern suburbs, while areas south of Chicago could see a mix of rain and snow.
Areas north of Chicago could see up to nine inches of snow while areas south of the city, and especially south of I-80, will likely see accumulations of only one to three inches.
As the afternoon wears on, the storm system will begin to move out of the area, but snow is still possible in Chicago and areas south and east of the city. All warnings and advisories currently in effect set to end at 6 p.m. Monday.
As the snow moves out, extremely cold air will move into the region, giving the area the potential for dangerously low wind chills on Tuesday and into Wednesday.
In terms of potential snowfall amounts, the North American model suggests that the Chicago area could see three to four inches, while the northwest suburbs and areas of northern Illinois will get between six and eight inches.
Behind the storm system, a blast of cold air from the North Pole will filter into the Chicago area on Tuesday.
Daytime highs (yes, highs) on Wednesday are expected to fall anywhere between five and ten degrees below zero, with wind chills forecasted to drop as low as 30 to 45 degrees below zero.
Those low temperatures will stick around the area on Thursday, as the Chicago-area could once again see the mercury fail to rise into positive digits.
In the extended forecast, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, as temperatures could rise back to normal levels by next weekend.
Authorities attribute the water main break to cold weather, and expect the main to be repaired in the early evening hours.
