Friday opens with the Chicago area’s coldest daybreak readings since the 22° low recorded here back on April 7. The temperature at west suburban Sugar Grove had dropped to 20° by 10 p.m. Thursday—and was still falling. Though afternoon highs are to recover to the mid and upper 40s Friday, the 60s of earlier this week are a distant memory and the weekend ahead looks cool. A predicted shot of southerly winds Monday into Tuesday morning offers the best hope of a modest temp recovery—but that warming is expected to be fleeting.
Thursday’s 40° high—the first 40° or cooler daytime reading of the season—arrived 35 days later than last year. Forty of the past 48 years have recorded comparably chilly temps earlier than Nov. 15.
The cool season’s arrival has produced dramatic changes here. Chicago’s shoreline water temps have dropped 33° from the summer’s highest, and the sunlight this time of year is just 26% the strength of the mid-summer sun.
--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.
