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Brrrr! Early taste of winter hits the suburbs

Saturday's surprisingly “low high” of about 47 degrees during the day not only sounds like a dance move, it had people outdoors moving rapidly to keep warm with the sudden nip in the air.

“We're moving. We're doing hula hooping,” said Kerry Enright of Orland Park as she watched her daughter, 6-year-old Sarah, play with hula hoops and bean bags at the Naper Settlement's Oktoberfest in Naperville.

The weekend started with an unusual dusting of snow at O'Hare International Airport and across some Western suburbs, and forecasters said the weather was trending to break a record, given the normal daytime high for this time of the year is 68 degrees.

“It's possibly going to be the coldest high temperature for this date,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley, at the agency's offices in Romeoville. The coldest high so far was 48 degrees.

The turnaround was an abrupt change from temperatures in the 70s and up to the 80s occasionally in the last few weeks.

Joannie Rocchi, retail perennial manager at the Growing Place in Aurora braved the cold armed with long underwear. “This is Chicago,” she said, “if you don't like the weather, wait an hour and it changes.”

Although the cold could be a death knell for heat-loving annuals such as impatiens, there's still lots of life left in your garden, Rocchi said, explaining that October's an excellent time to plant shrubs or trees.

“The first frost is usually Oct. 10 but it may come sooner and that will finish the annual plants. It's the natural order of things,” she said.

“We're already helping people change their containers from summer plants to fall. Plants that can take (colder) temperatures are mums, ornamental kale — and pansies love the cold weather.”

If you've got tomatoes lingering, now's the time to take them in, either to ripen in the window or be turned into fried green tomatoes, she advised.

Drizzly rain fell off-and-on Saturday with winds gusting up to 30 mph, the National Weather Service said. For Sunday, more moderate temperatures were forecast with a high of 54, still 14 degrees below normal, and sunshine.

Daily Herald staff writer Marie Wilson contributed to this report

  Fighting off the rain and cold weather, Sally Becker of North Aurora waits for her grandson, Sean Adams, 14, of Batavia to run in the varsity race Saturday at the St. Charles North High School cross county invite at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles. Sean is a freshman running on the varsity team. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Tiffany Brown of Arlington Heights is bundled in her parka as she waits for children to ride the "Great Chicago Kiddie Express" train Saturday during the Gurnee Fall Fest at Viking Park. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Dave Powers of Wheaton sits alone in the Glenbard West High School stands, drenched in rain and waiting for the start of a football game on Saturday. Powers said he loves Glenbard West football, and he doesn't mind the rain or cold; he just wants the best seat to enjoy the action. Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com
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