Thursday’s 1.40” of rain at Midway Airport is but the latest in a growing list of unusual weather events which have defined the sputtering 2006-07 winter season. January, after all, is the month best known for snow—not rain! It marks the second significant winter rain occurring here since the big snow which opened the season on Dec. 1. A typical January unleashes 12.6” of snow at Midway and 11.3” at O’Hare—the greatest of any month. Yet Thursday’s precipitation fell as rain and equalled 72% of normal full-January total in a single day!
Chicago’s dramatic temperature rebound promises a third day of 50° highs at Midway Airport, an event that has happened only three other times in January’s opening week. Meteorological Winter, 2006-07, which opened 6th coldest on record since 1871 after its first eight days, has surged to 12th warmest of the past 137 years.
--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.
