Days have been shortening here for over three months. By Saturday's close, Chicagoans will have witnessed the loss of four hours and 20 minutes of daylight, and can expect another hour and 14 minutes to vanish in the coming month. Saturday's 6:02 p.m. sunset is nearly 2-1/2 hours earlier than the 8:29 sunset on June 21 -- the day summer began and this area's longest day of the year. Remarkably, despite that loss of daylight and the resulting reduction in solar energy, this 8th weekend of meteorological autumn is to be unusually mild.
Temperatures will average 14 degrees above last weekend -- the season's coolest to date. Included in the warm-up is a predicted high of 80 degrees Sunday, a reading rare this time of the year. Just 0.3 percent of the 80 degree and warmer temperatures on the books here have occurred this late in the season. The city has logged 9,211 highs in excess of 80 degrees since records began -- and only 29 of them have occurred beyond Oct. 20.
--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.
