Weather extremes; or Dog Days in Chi

Remember the polar vortex?

That period of a few days back in January when the shift in weather traits actually gave in Chicago a taste of what things normally are like around the Arctic Circle!

Rocco (left) and Carmelo back in the winter months. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

IT WAS COLD. Particularly that one day where I got an assignment that actually required me to go outside and walk around the neighborhood in search of some colorful tidbits for a newspaper story.

Which I managed to accomplish in record time. No point in getting frost-bite for the free-lance pay rate I take in these days.

I also remember having to take the dogs outside during those days so they could “do their business,” so to speak. They’re not paper-trained, so their reaction to bathroom-type functions is to want to go outside – no matter what the weather is like.

While Rocco and Carmelo usually manage to linger out in the back yard for a few minutes before doing their “duty,” on those days they managed to run outside, complete their business them come charging back to the house.

LITERALLY CLAWING AWAY at the back door in desperate need of somebody to let them inside. Because it’s cold out here!!!

Anyway, these are the memories popping into my head on Friday as we’re enduring a heat spell that some are saying will be record-setting for the Chicago area.

The National Weather Service issued warnings for northern Illinois and Indiana, along with southern Wisconsin, going from Friday at 10 a.m. and supposed to last until about 7 p.m. Saturday.

It’s going to be hot and humid and people were advised to stay indoors as much as possible during that time period.

Rocco prefers the snow from indoors

FOR WHAT IT’S worth, I took the doggies out for a walk Friday morning and they managed to complete their business. But the walk didn’t last that long – pretty soon the dogs were panting heavily as they were hot.

They couldn’t wait to get back inside, and it was a good move that I refilled their water dishes before the walk. For they immediately went for the water and began gulping it down once we got back to shelter.

Now there have been some reports these days reminiscing back into history and 1919, when the heat of that summer was considered a cause of boosting tensions that ultimately resulted in race riots that left many people dead.

Although I suspect many more people had 1995 come to their minds. Much more recent – although even that is a quarter-of-a-century in the past.

I WAS FORTUNATE enough to not actually be in Chicago that summer – I was living in Springfield, Ill., at the time, although I got to hear the horror stories from my mother and brother of just how ridiculously hot it became and the extremes they had to go through to remain cool.

I recall the reports ultimately said the intense heat was because of a shift that, for a couple of weeks, caused Chicago to become something along the lines of Saudi Arabia.

And while those who actually live in the desert perhaps are capable of coping with such conditions, we managed to get caught off-guard. Causing the hundreds of deaths from that summer due to intense heat.

Carmelo wanted the water!

All I know is that if this is what other parts of the world feel like, it makes me all the more thankful to be a Chicagoan. The rest of the world can keep their weather extremes.

BUT I MUST admit to being uncertain about which extreme is more uanbearable. Polar vortex or Arab desert?

All I know is that I take one look at Rocco and Carmelo in heavy pant and know they were about as miserable as they were back in January when they virtually froze their paws off.

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Commuter trains wonderful; that is, until they don’t work on schedule

I’m a native of what’s  thought of these days as the greater Sout’ Side part of Chicago (having lived both city and suburb), and I’m actually someone who often uses the commuter trains in order to get around.

Commutes through the Hegewisch neighborhood were among those tampered with Tuesday by Mother Nature. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

It’s largely because I don’t have an automobile these days; enjoy the notion of not having a monthly car payment to make and also detest the idea of paying for parking – particularly on those occasions when I have to travel downtown.

THE ONE TIME in my life I shelled out some $35 to park a car for about two hours in a downtown garage is a horrid memory – and an experience I never want to repeat again during my lifetime.

So let’s just say that the hardest part of the crummy winter weather we’ve experienced in recent weeks is what it has done to my commute.

I’m actually one of those individuals who was impacted by the commuter trains being totally thrown off schedule – if not shut down outright. Of course, the wintry weather also significantly reduced my desire to make any sort of trip unless absolutely necessary.

Which is why Tuesday was particularly depressing during the morning hours.

Weather tampered w/ overhead cables

THAT WAS THE time when the Metra commuter railroad’s “Electric” line was out of commission, as was the South Shore line that takes people from downtown Chicago into Indiana all the way out to South Bend.

I’ve almost never made the trip all the way to the home town of Notre Dame. But there are times when I do have to venture into Hoosierland and rely on a combination of the two trains (usually making the transition in the Hyde Park neighborhood) to get there.

Learning that such a trip was impossible put quite a damper on my morning mood.

Fortunately for me, the travel I had to do on Tuesday didn’t come until later in the day by which time the trains were up and running again (with the icy conditions having been overcome, for the time being). And also, I was able to borrow use of a car for the day.

WHICH MADE ME a commuter braving the icy roads and hoping that I neither lost control of someone else’s automobile – or no one else driving around me lost control of their car and came crashing into me!

Many fewer commuters passing through Millennium station these days

Being able to rely on the commuter trains (and the CTA ‘el’ within the city limits proper) is such a convenience. One of the advantages of urban life.

That is, until the weather manages to take the system down in whatever way possible so that the ability to transport oneself from place to place becomes a near impossibility.

Then, one can feel so incredibly isolated even within a massive urban area. Almost as though Mother Nature is feeing the need to remind us all that none of us are above the impact of her quirks and how she, not we, are the ones ultimately in control of our environs.

Anxiously awaiting summer days

I’LL ADMIT IT was worse a couple of weeks ago at the peak of the polar vortex – remember those days of 50-below wind chill temperatures and railroad people literally were igniting the train tracks aflame so as to keep them from freezing over and it was all the commuter train lines throughout the Chicago area that were impacted?

This is a lesser scale inconvenience, but it has me hoping for springtime weather. With the fact that springtime-like weather conditions in Arizona made it possible for both the White Sox and Cubs to begin spring training camps was little concession.

I will admit I was pleased to learn that Metra is considering this weekend free train rides (as to the usual $10 fare for a weekend pass) come Saturday and Sunday. It has me pondering a trip downtown so as to take advantage of the discount perk.

It would, however, be just my luck that the free fare comes at a time when the train (which has a commuter stop just a couple of blocks from my current humble abode) isn’t any guarantee to be operating, or running anywhere near to on schedule.

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Fulfilling the public’s “right to know” caused me to freeze my fingers numb

Just about everybody who could find an excuse to justify it made a point Wednesday

Bogart's 'editor' never warned … 

of staying inside, not going anywhere and basically behaving themselves like a lazy slug.

I, however, was running around in the sub-zero freezing temperatures that, when combined with wind chill, felt something more like 50-below – all because of my work going about the business of trying to inform the general public.

… of winter weather reporting hazards

I AM A reporter-type person, willing to go out and seek the truth on a wide variety of issues; all with the thought and belief that I am somehow performing a sacred duty – letting the general public know what is happening in the world around them.

Wednesday’s temperatures, of course, dove down to such historically low levels that – for once – the weather was a legitimate news story.

In fact, I woke up Wednesday to learn that I was amongst the many thousands of people who had lost access to electricity during the overnight hours. Which is when I got a call from an editor-type person – ordering me to check out a tip about power outages.

Artsy images such as this … 

In this particular case, I was able to tell him from first-hand experience that there were places where there was no power.

ME, AND MANY of my neighbors, actually.

Which led me to getting into the car and driving around my neighborhood for a few blocks – looking for evidence that I wasn’t alone in being without power and no one could legitimately write me off as a financial deadbeat who fell behind on the electric bill.

I eventually found a good-samaritan type of person who was outside walking over to check on an elderly neighbor, while his own wife and child were resorting to using the fireplace to keep warm.

It made for a nice anecdote that eventually was contributed to a larger story about wintry weather conditions throughout Chicago on Wednesday.

… and scientific graphs don't adequately convey how cold Wednesday was

BUT I HAVE to confess, I was only out of the car and exposed to the elements for less than five minutes. I wore nice leather gloves that usually keep my hands warm.

When I was through, my fingertips were numbed. It actually took me about a half-hour for my digits to warm up to the point where I was physically capable of typing anything up that resembled news copy.

As I write this, I’m fine physically. There’s no lasting damage – although I wonder how much longer it would have taken before I had suffered some sort of lasting physical damage to my being. And if I could have mentally justified it.

I happen to know that when my father found out what I had done, he let it be known he thought his son was stupid (and didn’t get paid enough) for enduring such a brief moment.

BUT IT IS something I justify doing on the grounds that I’m trying to get the details, no matter how minute, about this historic day in Chicago history. Literally one in which our minus-50 degree figure will be regarded as the coldest ever in city history.

Also one where I lost count of the number of wiseacres who felt compelled to post blurbs on Facebook saying that Chicago was colder than both the North AND South poles. Even though news reports indicate we'll be back up to about 40 degrees by Monday.

Carmelo (left) and Rocco had enough sense Wednesday to 'do their business' within a minute, before racing back inside for the warmth of home

That may be factually true. But it doesn’t change much about the reality that I felt compelled to be outdoors (even though for just several five-minute bursts of time throughout the day) on this day when people who think they’re more sensible than myself made a day of doing as little as possible – and enjoying the likelihood that their employers told them to take the day off.

One final thought; will we remember this day come the summertime when we have one of those 100 degree-plus days and we’re complaining about how much we’re roasting – while thinking that a quickie blast of air from the polar vortex would somehow be a shot of relief.

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