Extreme cold that has settled in Chicago is linked to climate change, experts emphasize
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The brutal and dangerous cold snap hovering over Chicago will stick around through Tuesday – after bringing wind chills of -20 to -25 Monday morning.
The intense cold follows intense heat, as 2024 was the hottest year ever measured in the city. Such extreme temperatures, experts say, will continue with the changing climate.
Trent Ford, the Illinois State Climatologist, says there will be changes to Chicago winters.
"Climate change is making extreme cold less frequent and less intense, but not eliminating it completely," Ford said.
The dangers of such extreme cold are common knowledge.
"It may just be a matter of minutes before we start seeing some pretty significant and in so cases irreversible effects of extreme cold," Ford said.
But while everyone feels the cold, Kristen Malecki, who leads the Climate Change and Health Center at the University of Illinois Chicago, said that feeling is doing more to our bodies — with concerns to be aware of beyond hypothermia.
"Our bodies respond by making our blood thicker. Our thyroid hormones change our metabolism, so we want to eat a little bit more. But all of that is to protect our organs on the inside," Malecki said. "Thicker blood, you know, higher heart rate, increases the risk for things like cardiovascular disease and respiratory outcomes to be exacerbated — so more likely to have heart attacks — or people who have asthma or respiratory diseases are at great risk with this cold temperature."
Research is happening on the UIC campus right now to put solutions in place to mitigate the impact of climate change. The team conducting the research was selected by a national Climate Change and Health Initiative for work they got off the ground this fall — monitoring how the changing temperatures are impacting our health.
"Climate change is probably one of the biggest threats to health and wellbeing that we're going to see moving forward," Malecki said.
For now, Malecki said, the best idea is just to stay inside — despite the fact that staying inside poses an increased risk of flu and other illnesses.
"The city of Chicago is planning to stay indoors, and that's what we really need to do to keep the public safe," she said.