Arctic temperatures put freeze on Milwaukee area
Arctic temperatures have descended on southeastern Wisconsin, setting the stage for what may be an unusually cold start to the new year.
Daytime temperatures in the Milwaukee area will hover in the single digits above and below zero on Wednesday, with wind chills ranging from minus 10 to minus 25 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Those temps will jump into the midteens Thursday and Friday — with an inch or two of snow possible Thursday — before plunging again for the weekend.
“We’re kind of in this pattern where cold air is flowing out of the arctic toward us,” said meteorologist Sean Miller.
Temperatures this time of year are typically in the 20-to-30-degree range, according to the weather service. And there’s a 33% or greater chance that colder than average temperatures could linger through Jan. 8, it said.
The frigid temps are filling local homeless shelters and warming rooms; keeping some workers indoors; and more than likely boosting traffic at the Milwaukee County Domes where the temperatures in the tropical dome top 80 degrees.
“This is our busiest time of the year, and with it being so cold outside, that helps as well,” said Domes Horticultural Director Sandy Folaron.
“It’s like a cheap trip to Costa Rica,” she said.
Outreach workers were hitting the streets Tuesday looking for homeless people in need of shelter. And local warming rooms that open their doors when the temperatures hit 10 degrees or lower, including public libraries, are up and running.
“We are full — overfull, really — for the foreseeable future,” said the Rev. Karen Hagen of Tippecanoe Church, which operates the Divine Intervention homeless ministry at 125 W. Saveland Ave. on Milwaukee’s south side.
The homeless operation’s guests usually leave each morning by 8 a.m., but it is extending its hours until local libraries open to keep people “indoors and safe,” said Hagen.
Rafael Acevedo Jr., the City of Milwaukee’s point person on shelter services, said there are openings at other shelters and warming rooms, and that anyone needing assistance should call Impact 211 — that’s simply 2-1-1 — for assistance.
Also Tuesday, We Energies was limiting outdoor work for employees to short jobs and emergencies, said spokeswoman Amy Jahns.
“Unless it’s absolutely necessary, there’s no reason to send people out in the cold today,” she said.
Milwaukee Department of Public Works spokeswoman Sandra Rusch Walton said DPW workers were working outside on Tuesday, picking up trash, tending to sewers and street repairs and more. But she said they take precautions against the cold, including layers of clothes, waterproof gloves and keeping hydrated.
“It’s not just for hot weather,” Rusch Walton said in an email.
She called DPW workers “weather warriors.”
“They are prepared for all weather extremes, including the bitter cold that we are currently experiencing,” she said.