Chicagoans are getting just a taste Friday morning of the frigid arctic air mass responsible for heartstopping -30° morning lows yesterday from northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan to interior New England. Fresh snow and light winds facilitated the temperature crash. In the Upper Midwest, readings were among this winter’s coldest, bottoming out at -32° at Petosky, -31° at Indian River, -30° at Elmira in northern Michigan while nearby Eagle River, Wis. hosted -26°. The southern flank of that bitter air mass has produced single digits in the city early Friday for only the 13th time this winter while sub-0° readings cover lower Michigan and northern Indiana at daybreak. New England is the region most directly affected by the chill. Watertown in Upstate New York recorded a record-breaking -32° low Thursday morning, “warming” to just +4° in the afternoon. Windchills in the Northeast held to -45° at some locations.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
