Arctic blast to hit northern Illinois: Wind chills could plunge to

Northern Illinois is staring down another blast of bitter Arctic air later this week, capping off what has already been one of the most aggressive starts to winter in decades.

After a brief warmup Tuesday into early Wednesday, with temperatures temporarily climbing above freezing, a strong clipper system will sweep across the Midwest and open the door to a much sharper and longer-lasting push of cold air. Forecasters expect temperatures to tumble through the latter half of the week, with single-digit lows looking increasingly likely across much of the region this weekend. Some areas could even dip below zero.

Wind chills will be the bigger story. As a surge of northwesterly winds follows an arctic front late week, “feels-like” temperatures may plunge toward minus 20 at times, especially