The Chicago area heads into only its 6th night of single digits this season Tuesday night and may sink to sub-zero levels in the coldest suburban areas. Monday’s snowfall, though a fraction what it might have been had Sunday night’s precipitation fallen as snow, lays the foundation for the chill. That snow, besides bringing a string of snowless 44 winter days to an end—something which hadn’t happened since snow records began in the 1884-85 season—provides the “track” over which the arctic express is able to run. The incoming cold air produced a -27° low at Laramie, Wyo. Monday.
Lake snows pelt sections of the Indiana/Michigan snowbelt Tuesday. Snowfall off Lake Superior exceeded 14” at Marquette, Michigan Monday.
On borrowed time is record warmth in the East. Highs Monday hit 79° at Charleston, S.C. and 74° at Beckley, West Virginia.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
