First day of winter a real blast

Winter made its entrance Sunday with bone chilling temperatures and overpowering winds, leaving a toll that included one possible suburban death, power outages, smashed vehicles, and the temporary closing of a major store.

Addison police are investigating the death of a 48-year-old Addison woman who was found unresponsive and partially covered in snow and who appeared to be frozen, outside near her home at about 6:45 a.m. Sunday. Results of an autopsy on the mother of three, Penny M. Carlson, won't be complete until at least Monday, authorities said.

Sunday - the first official day of winter - started with single digit readings on the thermometer, but most of the Chicago region was feeling wind chills from 25 to 25 degrees below zero, said Amy Seeley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. That prompted officials across the region to urge people to stay indoors if at all possible.

Yet the conditions left some people without electricity.

Early Sunday afternoon, a power outage at Algonquin Road and Meijer Drive in Rolling Meadows left area residents without power and temporarily shut down the nearby Meijer store, according to a truck driver delivering groceries to the store. A few customers who had tried to enter the store also said they were told the store had lost power and was temporarily closed.

Rolling Meadows fire Battalion Chief Jeff Massey said a power line by the entrance at Algonquin and Meijer Drive was on the street and arcing shortly after 12:20 p.m. ComEd arrived at 12:55 p.m., he said.

"It was arcing in the street," he said. "It left a nice sized hole out there."

Eastbound Algonquin Road was closed, while westbound Algonquin was reduced to one lane, he said.

Massey said 257 Rolling Meadows residents went without power for two hours. Power was restored between 3 and 4 p.m.

Power outages also were reported in Buffalo Grove, where fire Lt. John Gilleran said most of the outages were on the south end of town near Dundee Road. He estimated slightly more than 800 residents were affected. Calls began coming in at around 11:30 a.m. and most had their power restored around 2 p.m., he said.

"We started responding because so many of our fire alarms went into what's called a trouble mode, because they lost power," he said.

By Sunday afternoon, around 19,300 ComEd customers were without power across the Chicago area, most in the south suburbs, said spokeswoman Kim Johnson, About 570 of those customers were in the northern suburbs to the Wisconsin border and about 150 were in Chicago and nearby suburbs. Another 60 or so were out of power in the utility's western region, from the western suburbs to the Mississippi River.

"The wind that rolled in at about midnight last night is largely responsible for what we're seeing now," Johnson said. " Since those winds could continue tonight into tomorrow morning, we could see additional outages as a result of that."

In many cases, the wind can help knock down tree branches already weakened by ice from Friday's storm.

"There was significant icing in the south region, where we saw a lot of ice buildup on trees," she said. "While we were very successful in getting almost everyone restored from the storm, the wind came through at about midnight last night."

The high winds and bitter temperatures also made travel hazardous across the suburbs.

In Cook County, Wheeling reported spinouts into snowbanks.

The Kane County Sheriff's Office reported several calls about vehicles in ditches, especially in rural areas where the snow drifts are bad.

In Lake County, Route 83 between Peterson Road and Route 60 was closed for a portion of the day.

Grayslake Fire Department officials said visibility was so bad that a stretch of Alleghany Road, between Peterson Road and Route 120, was shut down for plowing Sunday afternoon, shortly after a five-car accident and a three-car pileup.

None of the accidents resulted in injuries, Grayslake Capt. Jon Cokefair said. But, he said, "It was enough to snarl up the road."

As for conditions, he said, "It was a complete white out. You couldn't see. The blowing snow was so bad when you got into the open areas, visibility was zero."

Naperville police said snow blowing across Route 59 caused safety concerns Sunday morning. But after working with the Illinois Department of Transportation to clear the roads, officials say the problem was solved.

And several accidents and vehicles skidding off the roadways were reported in Naperville on Sunday, but officials said accident rates were on par with any other winter day.

State police advised drivers to slow down and watch out for icy conditions, especially on ramps.

"We're having a problem with the ramps from 290 to Route 83, because of the drifting," state police Master Sgt. Ted Vernon said. "Please tell these people to slow down. Watch the ramps. Those ramps are bad, because snow is blowing. (The Illinois Department of Transportation) goes over, they get it out of there and it blows right back. You can't do 55 down those ramps. You have to be very careful."

State police also reported a bad spot on Route 53. Police said quite a few cars are sliding into the ditch on the northbound ramp to Euclid Avenue east.

Air traffic was also affected the weather. Airlines were reporting minor delays and nearly 150 canceled flights at O'Hare International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

The cold also made it difficult for residents to conduct normal activities. But that didn't keep them from trying.

Libertyville resident Sheryl Barbian was out walking her dog, a 3-year-old Riley, for 20 minutes Sunday morning.

"It was fine. I was warm. I had all my layers on. Except my dog was cold," she said, adding that she was shopping for dog boots online. "He is fine. But he just has to keep lifting his paws, and he stops, and then I have to wipe off his feet, and then he can go on for a little bit more."

Nick Jarmusz, of the AAA Chicago Motor Club, said they've had nearly 4,000 calls for service this weekend from motorists, which is above average. Problems include weather-related accidents, dead batteries, people running out of gas, and frozen fluids.

A warming trend should begin today, with highs of 8 to 12. Tuesday should see temps in the comparatively balmy 20s, said Seeley, of the National Weather Service. High temperatures for Wednesday and Christmas Day are expected to be around 30.

While hard to take, Seeley said this kind of weather is not unusual for this time of year. "A couple times (each) winter, you'll usually see extremely cold conditions. This isn't record breaking."

The American Red Cross offers tips for dealing with the cold on its Web site, www.redcross.org. It recommends: dressing in layers to adjust to changing conditions, but avoid overdressing that can lead to heat illness; wearing a hat, preferably one that covers the ears; wearing mittens rather than gloves and waterproof, insulated boots; and, once home, get out of wet clothes immediately and warm yourself with a blanket or warm fluids like hot cider or soup.

• Staff Writers Jamie Sotonoff and Beth Mistretta contributed to this report.