Warmth is a perishable commodity here in spring. With cold offshore Lake Michigan
surface water temperatures in the mid-30s to low-40s, a wind shift from the east is all it
takes to send air temperatures plummeting. That’s what happened on Thursday. Sunshine
had pushed temperatures well into the 70s for a second day over a wide swath of the
Chicago area as the afternoon arrived. Midway Airport hit 74 degrees, making Thursday
the site’s warmest day of 2008. Rockford and DuPage Airport were even warmer, with
highs of 76 degrees—and temperatures in far west suburban Rochelle and De Kalb soared
to 77 degrees. But the warmth wasn’t to last long, especially lakeside.
A TALE OF TWO SEASONS ACROSS AREA
A punishing temperature plunge commenced just past midday Thursday in the northern
suburbs. Shifting winds behind a cold front literally transformed spring to winter. First hit
were north lakeshore communities from Waukegan to Highland Park, where, by
mid-afternoon, temperatures had crashed to the upper-30s and low-40s—even with
south and west suburban readings in the 70s. The chilly air next targeted the city, where
Midway's temperature dive from 74 degrees to 54 degrees took just 3 hours.
