Thursday’s predicted 72° high becomes the 157th day of 2005 with a temperature at or above 70°—the most here in 28 years. (Chicagoans enjoyed 158 days of 70° or higher in 1977). By comparison, a typical year produces 140 such readings at O’Hare and 144 at Midway—but only 113 occur along the lake front because of cooling lake breezes part of the year there.
Highs in the 70s are rare this late in the season. Only 110 of the 17,507 above 70° temperatures recorded here since 1871—that’s just six tenths of 1% of all our 70s—have occurred in November and only 83 beyond today’s date.
Thursday’s warmth arrives on gusty winds which have transported the unseasonable temperatures nearly 800 miles over the past 24 hours. Computer-generated wind trajectories indicate only late Wednesday, the warmth was over Mississippi and Arkansas.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
