Naperville braces for bitter temps and 25-below windchills on heels of 8 inches of snow
Winter’s vengeful return has dumped about 8 inches of snow on the Naperville area since Thursday night and was expected to add another inch to an inch an a half overnight Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Adding insult to injury will be the blast of bitter cold that comes through Saturday into Sunday, and remains in the area for several days.
Sunday’s high temperature of about zero will feel more like minus 25 to minus 30 thanks to the windchill resulting from wind gusts of 15 to 20 mph, said Brett Borchardt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“It’s going to be very windy, with really low visibility,” he said.
That “big punch” of frigid cold coming down from Canada will stay in the area through at least mid-week, with the worst of it expected Sunday through Tuesday, Borchardt said.
It’s hard to predict how long it will take the slow-moving weather system to move eastward out of the Midwest, he said, but it could hang on through the end of the coming week.
Borchardt’s advice is to use “common-sense safety precautions” — avoid being outside when possible and dress appropriately for the conditions.
Snowstorms started moving through the area Thursday night, the first blanketing Naperville with about 5½ inches of snow by Friday morning, made worse by wind gusts as high as 45 mph. That was followed by another 2 to 3 inches between mid-day Friday and Saturday morning.
With as much as another 1½ inches expected overnight Saturday into Sunday, the Naperville total will be somewhere in the 9- to 10-inch range, Borchardt said.
Because of the accumulation Friday morning, there were several closures and cancellations.
The Naperville Public Library and Naperville Park District called off its programs and closed buildings, the Forest Preserve District of Will County closed its visitors centers, and the city of Naperville postponed Friday garbage collection to Saturday, canceled Friday recycling collection and closed the recycling and hazardous waste centers.
Naperville School District 203, Indian Prairie School District 204 and North Central College closed their campuses and switched to e-learning.
“Downtown’s pretty deserted,” Becky Anderson, owner of Anderson’s Bookshop on Jefferson Avenue, said Friday afternoon.
At Endeavor Health’s Edward Hospital in Naperville, there was a low volume of patients in its emergency room Friday as people heeded advice to stay home and off the roads, according to hospital spokesman Keith Hartenberger.
Through Friday’s first wave of snow, Naperville police had only responded to one minor traffic crash, department spokesman Cmdr. Rick Krakow said. Police have mostly been responding to motorist assists, Krakow said, such as cars caught stuck in the snow.
For the most part, he said, “We’re doing pretty well so far.”
Snowplows have been on the roads on and off since Thursday night, city spokeswoman Kate Schultz said.
“We have our full fleet of 22 trucks out and about 30 contract operators” working to clear main thoroughfares, streets and cul-de-sacs, she said Friday.
Schultz said the city’s main concern is black ice — a transparent layer of ice that’s difficult to discern from pavement — on roadways as the weekend cold settles in.
“Why do I mention that?” Schultz said. “It’s important that people continue to slow down if they’re on the road.”
The city also has cold weather resources listed online at www.naperville.il.us/cold-weather-resources, including information on hypothermia, ways to protect homes and pets, and warming centers available. in DuPage and Will counties.
