Editor’s Note: After this article was originally published online, the Carbondale Warming Center announced that the building will remain open 24 hours a day “over the next several days.” Center staff and volunteers say they are committed to assisting everyone who comes to the center’s doors, offering warmth, safety and support amid the extreme cold. Space is still limited and will be available on a first‑come, first‑served basis. The center is also requesting donations of coffee, cocoa, soup and snacks to help meet increased demand during this weather emergency.

A historic winter storm swept across the country this weekend, draping parts of southern Illinois in over a foot of snow, below zero temperatures and dangerous road conditions. For many, the winter weather meant an unexpected weekend off and snowy recreation, but for others, it became a fight to stay safe and warm amid limited shelter space and life-threatening conditions.

Many businesses in Carbondale and most places on the campus of Southern Illinois University were closed during peak storm hours, which began Saturday morning and concluded on Sunday afternoon. The National Weather Service reported 12 inches of snow in Murphysboro, 13 inches in Benton, 14 inches in Du Quoin and 9 inches in Carbondale, prompting Chancellor Austin Lane to cancel classes for Monday, Jan. 26 and Tuesday, Jan. 27.

“At this time, SIU will reopen at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, 1/27/26,” an email sent by the university read. “This is an administrative closure. All classes (face to face, hybrid and online) will be canceled and will not be delivered remotely. Residence halls, residential dining, and the Rec Center will be open, as will the Department of Public Safety. All other campus buildings and offices will be closed.”

With a second extended weekend in a row, SIU students joined Carbondale community members on the streets of The Strip drifting cars, sledding down the hill at the Banterra Center and finding creative ways to stay warm and entertained. 

Max Anderson, 7, soared over a makeshift ramp of snow while sledding down the Banterra hill as his family watched from afar, snowflakes flurrying around him. 

Anderson had been sledding with his family around the area before, but said Banterra is his favorite place to go. 

“(I like) this hill because it’s long, it’s steep, it has hills, it has skiing,” Anderson said. “I even watched a guy skiing.” 

After making his last sled down the hill, he said he was going home to warm up with hot chocolate, cookies and a movie. 

Banterra attracts a variety of sledders, including SIU associate professor of ethnomusicology Maria Johnson, who traversed the campus on skis that she’s owned since she was a kid. She spent her morning cross country skiing up and down hills on campus before walking back over to her home near Chautauqua.  

The powdery snow, Johnson says, creates ideal conditions for sliding around campus. 

“It’s really good, and we’ve got so much this time,” Johnson said. “Once you make a path it can be really nice, especially if you like to go down hills and stuff like that.” 

Jason Riley, a resident of W. Mill St., along with Phillip Hartke and other SIU students, spent their morning shoveling off the sidewalks for their neighbors before enjoying some beer and a bonfire in their front yard. 

“We have a ‘you honk, we drink sign’ out front,” Riley said. “We’re just trying to stay warm by having a fire.” 

For some residents of Carbondale, staying warm is a much taller task than a front yard bonfire.  Subzero temperatures and heavy snowfall make for a tough night’s sleep rather than fun and games. 

In anticipation of the unforgiving winter weather, Jackson County officials made efforts to discourage travel and emphasized the importance of stocking up on essentials, but with a noticeable homeless population that lacks access to food and shelter — a topic at the forefront of Carbondale civic discourse for months now — many were left on the streets of The Strip cold, hungry and looking for a place to sleep.

Denzel “Shaky” Ridenour, a homeless man from Alderville, Illinois, made it his mission over the weekend to give back to a community that he feels deserves it — despite feeling like the city could be doing more for someone like him. 

“I’m out here shoveling some snow trying to get some money and earn my way in life,” Ridenour told the Daily Egyptian. “I’m a recovering addict. I’ve been an addict for 45 years, but I’ve gone 36 days clean and I’m starting my new life.” 

Ridenour, spade in hand, donning layers of colorful clothes he got from a shelter, had been up and down The Strip since 6 a.m. shoveling snow in front of businesses and helping people clean off their cars. He claims to have rid 16 cars of snow that morning, and said he does so expecting nothing in return. 

“This town has welcomed me here from the St. Louis area and I want to give back,” Ridenour said. “I’ve been picking up trash and stuff. I don’t know if you guys have noticed or heard or whatever, but I’m the ‘trash-picker-upper.’ I’m picking it up every day. It’s something to do. I’m homeless. I’m staying in the police station. They’re allowing us to stay in there.”

As the Carbondale Warming Center struggles with funding after budget cuts from the city, their ability to keep staff and complete necessary maintenance on the building has prompted limited hours and an even lower capacity. 

The center has partnered with Take Action Today, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding recovery resources located on 809 W. Main St., that is also open to the public for those that need to get out of the cold — but not overnight. 

“Take Action Today — great place,” Ridenour said. “Dylan in there is a real good guy. He tries to help. That’s a place we can get in and out of the weather from 9 to 5. We can do laundry, take a shower — they’ve even given me clothes.”

With the Warming Center often at full capacity and Take Action Today not open overnight, many in Carbondale, like Ridenour, have been sleeping at the police station. 

“It’s been hell,” Ridenour said of sleeping at the station. “There’s a bunch of idiots in there. They come in at 3:30 in the morning drinking and raising hell, and then they get us all thrown out — right into the front lawn. The Warming Center’s full — there’s nowhere for us to get out of the weather. It’s 17 degrees or whatever it was, it was like minus-30 or something last night with the windchill.” 

Ridenour, pointing to his exposed chin, said that he had recently gotten frostbite there, his nose and all of his fingers and toes.

“I got out of rehab at the Fellowship Center in Anna and when I graduated, I came here,” Ridenour said. “And so I end up just walking around. I don’t have nothing else to do, so I’ve been going around town and cleaning the streets.” 

He said that Jan. 24 was the first night that they had not been thrown out of the police station. 

“We got to sleep all night long,” Ridenour said. “We had an older woman coming in the other night and she was in just a T-shirt and leggings. She was so frozen that she couldn’t even open the door — I mean she was an icicle. I welcomed her in. I gave her my sleeping bag, I gave her my pillow. We’re trying to find clothes, coveralls, you know, winter clothes for her.”

The Thrift Store in Carbondale dispersed winter clothing items all along The Strip throughout the weekend, posting on Facebook that “if you see it on a tree, it’s free.” 

The Good Samaritan House, the only other homeless shelter in Carbondale, also provides clothing to those in need, but is looking for additional sleeping bags, blankets, pillows and cots as well as more winter clothes. Donations can be dropped off at 701 S. Marion St. by the SIU Recreation Center.

Over the winter weather weekend, the Good Samaritan House provided emergency shelter to 30 people, supported by donations from the community.

“I like the people here,” Ridenour said of the Carbondale community. “I like everything about it — but they could use a better shelter. I don’t know why some rich guy can’t come in and build a giant pole barn and cut it off into rooms and sections and let us pay to stay. It ain’t that we’re not willing to pay for it, it’s just that, we need something within our means, you know?”

Although Carbondale isn’t anticipating any more snow until next week, temperatures are expected to remain well below freezing for the foreseeable future, meaning that what has fallen will remain, roads will stay sketchy and the homeless population in Carbondale will continue to need community support. 

The City of Carbondale announced in a release that refuse and recycling services would be delayed and would operate on their holiday schedule, which postpones the schedule of a given day to the next available day that they can operate.

“All essential personnel and emergency services will continue operating normally during this time,” the release read. “Roadways will continue to be cleared with expectations of side roads being delayed.”

Another release from the City of Carbondale announced that nonemergency disconnects to the water and sewage systems will cease until temperatures stabilize. Carbondale will also not be assessing penalties on water bills for the rest of the month of January. 

The Jackson County Courthouse also closed on Monday, Jan. 26, and all county board meetings and court hearings will be rescheduled, a release from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office read.

News Editor Jackson Brandhorst can be reached at [email protected] or @jacksondothtml on Instagram. Senior Editor Lylee Gibbs can be reached at [email protected]m or @lyleegibbsphoto on Instagram. Staff Reporter Orion Wolf can be reached at [email protected] or @orionwolf6 on Instagram.

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