Extreme Cold Watch issued for entire Chicago area starting Friday morning, frostbite possible in minutes
Chicago weather Friday will be severe enough that an Extreme Cold Watch has been issued for the entire area starting early that morning.
The Extreme Cold Watch will go into effect at 3 a.m. Friday for Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Will, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, La Salle, Lake, McHenry, and Winnebago counties in Illinois until noon that day.
Click here to see the latest seven day forecast from our First Alert Weather team
An Extreme Cold Watch is issued by the National Weather Service when dangerously cold air, with or without wind chill, is possible.
A cold front arrives in the Chicago area Thursday, and by Friday morning wind chills could drop below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. The dangerous cold will also continue into Saturday. Actual lows Thursday are expected to bottom out around -10 degrees.
With wind chills being anywhere from -30 to -40 degrees, frostbite can happen on exposed skin within five to 10 minutes. Making sure you're properly dressed for the weather with as much exposed skin covered as possible is vital to stay safe.
A forecast low of -11 Thursday night would put the area at its coldest temperatures since January of 2019. It's also possible the area could break its record cold weather high on Friday. Currently the forecast calls for a high of -2, but if it's -4 degrees we will tie the record; if it's colder, we'll break it.
The last time the Chicago area saw a high temperature below zero was in 2022.
School in Merrillville, Indiana already announced they will move to e-learning on Friday because of the extreme cold.
"This decision has been made after careful consideration of the risks associated with prolonged exposure to severe weather conditions, including waiting at bus stops in dangerously cold weather," they said in a message to parents.
