Chicago hit with snow, then comes brutal cold

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - Chicago suburbs will be getting anywhere from two to nine inches of snow on Monday, and that will be followed by wind chills that might break records.

The snow that starts on Sunday night will continue through Monday morning in most parts of the Chicago area. Residents farther north are expected to get seven to nine inches. People farther south will get two to three.

The snow will be followed by high temperatures on Wednesday that are not going to get even close to zero. Wednesday's low temperature will be in the -22 range. The high will be about -11. The expected wind chills are going to be around -45 to -60, which could break records.

The cold weather has claimed 18 people in Cook County so far this winter. The city is encouraging residents to check on their neighbors.

The cold weather is also creating a lot of business for plumbers, who are handling a lot of calls to fix frozen and broken pipes. There are ways to try to avoid these problems.

"Run faucets overnight," recommended plumber Mark Mitsdarffer, who said the number of calls he's been handling this month have doubled compared to last year. "Try to run them during the day if you can. Do be aware that you are running water all night, so if you have a slow running drain, it's gonna back up on you. Secondly, open up all the cabinets underneath your sinks and faucets. Get as much warm air into all the areas that you can."

Chicagoans said even with the heater on, it still feels cold.

"It's very cold inside the house, even with the heat on and we, we're  trying to put the plastic on [the windows] so it won't be very, very cold," said Jessica Vazquez.

"We already did our grocery shopping, so I think we're kind of prepared for it to be really cold and for us to hibernate inside," said Erin Antonik.

"We might not come back out for like four days from this," said Aaron White.