The Chicago area is in the grip of its coolest air of the past 7 months. Signs of autumn are everywhere. Chicago’s air temperature in the opening week of November has plummeted 33° since the opening week of September as the meteorological fall 2007 season began. Also down is the shoreline Lake Michigan water temperature which has tumbled from 68° Sept. 1 to late Wednesday’s 49° reading—the first lake temperature under 50° since last spring. We’ve bid 183 minutes of daylight goodbye since Sept. 1 and will watch the sun follow a path across the sky Thursday almost a third lower than when the fall season started just over two months ago.
Wednesday’s 43° Chicago high—a reading nearly 10° below normal—was only the city’s second sub-50° high of the season—a tally far behind last fall’s tally of 11 during the same period.
--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.
