It hasn’t been as warm here as Tuesday afternoon’s 43° since a 47° high two weeks ago on January 13. Absent the area’s heavy snow cover, temperatures would have surged into the mid 50s! The mild spell effortlessly lopped 5” off one of the area’s heaviest late January snowpacks in years. At Midway Airport, the 14” cover Sunday shrunk to 9” by late Tuesday evening. But, the country’s real warmth Tuesday was in the Plains where new high temp records were established—among them 65° at Grand Island and 66° at North Platte—both in Nebraska.
Wednesday is to be the last day until next October 30 to produce a pre-5pm sunset thanks to lengthening days. The trend toward longer days has been ongoing for more than a month. In fact, Chicagoans now enjoy 52 minutes more sunlight than back on Dec. 21—the city’s shortest day and also the official start of winter.
-Tom Skilling
