Working indoors isn't an option for everyone

As temperatures fell to minus 2 on Thursday morning, not everyone had the luxury of working indoors.

Jose Gutierrez, a grounds specialist with the Arlington Heights Park District, and colleague Francisco Garay battled wind and cold while spraying water from a hose onto the ice rink surface at Pioneer Park.

"Right now, it's pretty bad, it's so cold," Gutierrez said. "We can do this for 15 to 20 minutes at a time before we have to go into the truck and warm up."

Crews that work a midnight to 7 a.m. shift normally make the ice at the park district's 10 rinks, but below-zero temperatures and overcast skies provided ideal conditions to work Thursday morning, Gutierrez said.

"The biggest problem is the wind," he said. "You don't want the water to blow in your face."

A five-man Naperville Park District crew spent several hours building an ice rink today at the base of Rotary Hill.

The biting wind didn't make the job any easier, but Park Specialist Clint Burnell said they were as ready as possible for the cold.

"We put on many layers of clothes and take extra breaks. We'll go hop in the van and warm up," he said. "It's not the best out here, but you can deal with it."

And they'll have to deal with it Friday, too.

"We'll come out here tomorrow morning to drill and see what the ice depth is," Burnell said. "If it's more than 4 inches, it's ready to go."

In Lake County, employees tried to move quickly in the frigid weather while gathering shopping carts and pumping gas.

"Everybody shares. We see them (shopping carts) and we go get them. We kind of rotate that, get them as quick as we can," said Lake Zurich Trader Joe's crew member Dan Triner as he used a strap to wheel back a row of red shopping carts. "We don't spend a lot of time outside. In and out of here, as quick as we can. In and out."

As for the cold the past few days, "w had the back door open for a delivery this morning for just a few minutes and it froze a hose in the building - that's how cold it is," he said.

Cashier Michael Cline wore heavy layers under his day-glow yellow vest as he monitored the gas pumps at Costco's Lake Zurich location.

"I make sure no spills are happening and everything is going smoothly, and watching if anybody needs help," Cline said while standing outside a warming hut near the pumps.

The key to coping with the bitter cold dressing appropriately, Cline said.

"Thermals, overalls if you got them, double-layer socks. You dress warm out here. It's usually a six-hour shift, 15 minutes in the hut, then 30 minutes outside," he said. "They want you outside in case someone needs help."

South Elgin Target employee Tom Hearn also wore extra layers of clothing today knowing he'd be out gathering carts. "Luckily this is the first time I've been out today," he said around noon.

The cold kept auto service shops hopping, but much of the work could be completed indoors.

Tyler Lake of Kellenberger Auto Service in Elgin was busy changing car batteries for the last two days. The business had sold five times as many batteries as usual because of the cold.

• Daily Herald photographers Bob Chwedyk, Brian Hill, Laura Stoecker and Daniel White contributed to this report.