It’s been 63 years since December has opened any colder.. The first 7 days of the month have averaged a bonechilling 16.8°—far short of the 33° long-term average the past 136 years and a stunning 20° below a year ago. Year to year temperature variations are seldomly larger. The chill predicted through week’s end is all but certain by Friday to make the month’s first nine days the coldest on record.
The unusual nature of the current cold spell shows up in other stats as well. Wednesday’s 0° morning lows at Midway and O’Hare join only eight other years since 1895 in which 0° temperatures have arrived AS early or earlier. Aurora’s -10° was the Chicago area’s coldest. Rockford bottomed out at -8°. Romeoville and Waukegan started the day at -5°.
Wednesday’s 15° high was the third straight day of teens—something which occurs on average in early December only once every 45 years.
--Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
