There’s been nothing typical about this fall’s weather to date. The cold has hit early and surprisingly hard this year. The snow flurries which fall from incoming clouds and Thursday’s predicted 34° high—a reading equal to Chicago’s normal Dec. 17 high temperature but 32° colder than the same date a year ago—only underscore the unusual pattern in which we find ourselves. The air mass over Chicago, which only 24 hours ago sent snow flurries through the air in eastern North Dakota 750 miles to the northwest, is so cold that sub-zero readings will hover just 9,000 feet above ground level here.
The chill to date places fall 2006 among Chicago’s seven coolest since 1871. In terms of daytime temperatures, only one other November in the past 50 years has opened with highs colder on the first and 2nd day of the month than Wednesday’s 42° and the predicted 34° today.
-Tom Skilling
