Chicago’s coolest October in 18 years

It’s hard to believe that just three weeks ago, this month opened with four days of 70º or higher, and now October 2006 is among the top 10 percent coolest of all Octobers since 1871. A testimony to how chilly it has been is evidenced by its average temperature of 50.6º, five degrees below the long-term 135-year October average of 55.6º and the coolest here since the 49.4º racked up in 1988. Monday night’s snow flurries marked the season’s second official occurrence of snow, and even more snow showers could follow by the weekend. While the flurries here brought a dusting at best, snow advisories were posted for portions of southwest Michigan where several inches of lake-effect snow were expected.
Chicago and the Midwest do not have a monopoly on the chill. Temperatures dropped below freezing Monday night as far south as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi as the season’s first flurries fell in the Carolina mountains.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist