For a seventh day, Chicagoans must deal with the chilly temperatures brought on by a sprawling air mass which has been draped across the eastern two thirds of the U.S. Though the chill’s intensity is slowly beginning to ebb, the 32.2° average temp here the past 6 days makes it the coldest April 4-9 period of the past 25 years and the 4th coldest such period of the 137 years since 1871. Cubs fans experienced the chill first hand at the team’s home opener. With flurries in the area, temperatures peaked at just 41° making it the coldest opener of the past 3 years. And, in a truly rare meteorological twist, temps since April 4 have been 7.5° colder than January’s opening week!
The chill has established a host of new late season cold weather benchmarks nationwide. Jacksonville, Florida’s 31° Sunday morning low marked the latest freeze on the books there. Meantime, the 6-day snow tally at Painesdale, in Michigan’s U.P., climbed to 64.5” Monday.
--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.
