Chicago's bitter cold will change to something even colder

CHICAGO (AP) - The bitter cold that has gripped northern Illinois for more than a week is about to give way to even colder weather.

According to the National Weather Service, when the light snow stops falling late Saturday, temperatures will plummet Saturday night and into Sunday as low as minus 5 degrees, with wind chills in Cook, Lake, DuPage and Will counties expected to drop to 25 below zero and as low as 35 below zero in Kane and McHenry counties. Sunday, the temperatures are not expected to climb much higher than 10 degrees and drop below zero Sunday night.

The weather service said that snow may keep keep falling Monday and Tuesday and that the coldest air won't move out of the area until Thursday, when the highs could reach the upper 20s and even into the 30s by next weekend.

Before that happens, though, the weather service is encouraging people to stay inside during overnight hours, and if they do go outside, to keep it brief.

'œWhen you're talking about wind chills that are minus 20, minus 30, that's when you can get frostbite on exposed skin within 10 to 20 minutes,'ť National Weather Service meteorologist Rafal Ogorek said.