Chicagoans basked in the first 60-degree temperatures in 11 days Thursday. The
mercury reached 62 at O'Hare International Airport just before 4 p.m. and 63 at Midway.
Even warmer readings were reported at Rockford (65 degrees), Joliet (66), St. Charles
(66), Marseilles (67), Morris (68), and Peru (70). Converging winds ahead of a
southbound late-day cold front Friday are likely to drive readings even higher on
Halloween with 70-degree temperatures a distinct possibility.
The warm-up dominates much of the country's Heartland. In Marquette, Mich., where 2
inches of snow fell Monday, high temperatures Thursday soared to 64 degrees -- a new
record and even warmer than Chicago's high. The dome of warm air produced 80s in
sections of the Plains just east of the Rockies including 82 degrees at Boulder, Colo.,
and 82 at Kearney, Neb.
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA TO CLOSE BOOKS ON 4TH COLDEST OCTOBER EVER
Bitterly cold air has gripped our 49th state over the past week. At Chandalar Lake,
Alaska, temperatures plunged to 42 degrees below zero. In Fairbanks, the books are
poised to close on the city's 4th coldest October.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
