If Tuesday's jarring temperature pullback seemed harsh even by often finicky May
temperature standards, weather records confirm your suspicion. Not only was the day's
50-degree high the coolest to occur this late in a season since measurements at O'Hare
International Airport began nearly half a century ago (since 1959), the 31-degree
plunge between Monday and Tuesday was one for the books too. A one day high
temperature drop of that magnitude has occurred at O'Hare in May only two times
before. The month is a whopping 7.8-degrees behind the same period a year ago and
ranks 35th of the past 138 Mays placing it among the 25 percent coolest on record here
since 1871. Only eight Mays in the last 50 years have been cooler.
DOWNSTATE FARMERS FORCED TO REPLANT IN SWAMPED FIELDS
Unwelcome rain fell in Downstate Illinois on Tuesday where many farmers have
struggled to plant the year's corn crop and face replanting due to flooded fields.
Goreville and Creal Springs -- both near Marion -- recorded 1.97 inches. The region
has seen a foot more rain this spring than a year ago.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
