February 2005’s unusually mild temperatures continue to raise eyebrows in the meteorological community. The month maintains a 10° temperature surplus as it passes the halfway mark, and not a single day this month has finished with a normal or below normal reading. That’s a fairly remarkable streak at a time of the year in which much of Canada remains ensconced in a sea of cold air which has taken months to form over a vast snowpack in the weak (or non-existent) sunlight indigenous to the arctic latitudes in winter. Only six other Februarys in Chicago since 1871 have opened with so many (14) consecutive days of above normal readings. This month’s persistent mild air makes it the 9th mildest February open since 1871—only three Feb. 1-14 periods since 1940 have been warmer than this year.
The rain (0.93” at Midway, 0.76” at O’Hare) which fell here Sunday into Monday morning amounted to more than all the precipitation which fell last year in February.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
