The Chicago area is in the midst of its chilliest weather of the past nine months. For a fifth consecutive day Monday, temperatures failed to reach 40 degrees -- a sixth is predicted Tuesday. Not since March 2-7 have so many sub-40-degree highs occurred.
The sun set last week (Nov. 18) at Barrow, Alaska, and won't rise again there for two months until Jan. 23 at 1:06 p.m. It's a situation indigenous to the arctic, and the resulting lack of sunlight is a major reason cold air collects so quickly there and is able to penetrate into the Midwest with increasing frequency. Although it's chilly in Chicago as Tuesday dawns, bitterly cold early season arctic air is in control along the U.S./Canadian border from northern Montana to Lake Superior. There, temperatures dropped below 0 degrees overnight.
The clock is running on meteorological Fall, 2007. The season has just four days to go, ending with December's arrival at midnight Friday night.
--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.
