In the 15 days from Dec. 22 through today, Chicago’s afternoon temperatures have ranged from 35 to 47 degrees, and many would say that’s hardly a bargain—but consider that the city’s normal daily high now is 30º, and daily readings in January climb into the 40s on only one day in four.
It’s not been spectacularly mild since Dec. 22, but it’s been persistently mild—and that’s the story. Chicago’s daily high temperatures have remained consistently at or above 35º since Dec. 22, a feat accomplished only twice before (Dec. 22-Jan. 5 of 1877-78 and 1907-08) in 135 years of official Chicago temperature records.
Daily minimum temperatures, too, have remained exceptionally high in recent days. The city’s normal daily low now is 15º, but since Dec. 23 we’ve averaged 34º, fully 19 degrees above normal.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
